France will from next week close all creches, schools and universities to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus, President Emmanuel Macron has announced in a televised address.
Describing the outbreak as France's biggest public health crisis in a century, Mr Macron also urged employers to let staff work from home and said that the elderly and people with health conditions should stay indoors.
He said, however, that municipal elections scheduled for this weekend should go ahead.
He said that to ease the economic impact, the state would take over paying salaries of people forced to stop work and that businesses would not have to pay taxes due in March.
On the European level, he said the latest measures to support the economy unveiled by the European Central Bank were not sufficient, and that he would work with European partners on a major package to relaunch the economy "whatever it costs".
Global markets tumble
Sweeping travel bans have cascaded around the globe, walling off countries, keeping people inside their homes and slowing the engines of commerce to stem the coronavirus pandemic.
Markets collapsed with the growing realisation that there would be no fast end to the uncertainty.
After weeks downplaying the impact of the virus, US President Donald Trump's announcement of strict rules barring most Europeans from entry came as a shock across the Atlantic.
Within hours, even the European Union's passport-free travel came into question, with guards setting up in places that had been without borders for more than a decade and airports shut down.
US President Donald Trump announces the travel ban. Source: Getty Images
The head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, noted that the vast majority of new cases of the COVID-19 illness are linked to Europe.
Deaths in Italy topped 1,000, with more than 15,000 returning positive tests.
The virus detected three months ago in China has produced crippling outbreaks in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, ignited global financial panic and in the last week has led to dizzying developments erupt by the hour.
European soccer leagues, US basketball tournaments, school terms for millions of students, weddings, baptisms, funerals, nightlife, culture high and low - all fell by the wayside with a swiftness that was becoming increasingly difficult to grasp.
Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose country was spared the US travel ban, called the pandemic "the worst public health crisis for a generation" and he said: "many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time".
The illness edged closer to the world's power centres: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was self-isolating at home because his wife showed flu-like symptoms after her return from Britain, while the Brazilian president's communications director tested positive just days after travelling to meet with Mr Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was under quarantine after reportedly being infected with the coronavirus.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau. Source: The Canadian Press
Developments in just one 24-hour period include an official designation of "pandemic" from the World Health Organization, the dramatic halt to much travel between the United States and 26 European countries, and infections being announced in rapid-fire pace by Hollywood celebrities, sports stars and political leaders as well as ordinary people on cruise ships.
Across the board, European markets closed on one of their worst days in history, unswayed by new stimulus measures from the European Central Bank to buy up 120 billion euros ($A211 billion) in bonds.
An early fall of 7.0 per cent on Wall Street triggered a trading halt amid the global sell-off but rose slightly after the Federal Reserve announced it would inject up to $US2 trillion into short-term lending markets.
More than 127,000 cases have been confirmed globally as of Friday morning.
Of these, approximately 68,000 have recovered and at least 4,628 have died.
