Chinese health authorities said the number of new deaths stood at 29 on Thursday, the lowest daily rate since Jan. 28. The virus that can lead to pneumonia has now killed a total of 2,744 people in the country, mostly in the central province of Hubei where it originated late last year.
It has infected about 80,000 people, the vast majority in China, and its rapid spread through countries such as Italy, Iran and South Korea has raised the risk of a pandemic.
As panic increased, Mexican authorities barred a cruise ship from docking at one of its ports over what the ship's company said was a single case of common seasonal flu. The ship was eventually allowed to enter the Cozumel port.
Cruise ships have been in the spotlight after confirmed cases of the coronavirus on the British-registered Diamond Princess approached 700 with three deaths since the ship docked at a Japanese port on Feb. 3.
The United States is managing 59 cases so far - mostly Americans repatriated from the cruise ship in Japan.
Latin America's first case was confirmed in a 61-year-old man in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who had recently visited Italy, a new front line in the global outbreak. The diagnosis coincided with the carnival holiday, a peak time for domestic travel. Brazil's stock index fell over 7%.
Italy reported another 100 cases nationwide, taking the total in Europe's biggest hotspot to more than 400, while the death toll rose to 12.
The outbreak is centred on Italy's industrial heartlands of Lombardy and Veneto, and the government has closed schools and universities, shuttered cinemas and banned public events in an effort to prevent the spread of the highly infectious disease
A hotel in Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands remained locked down for a second day on Wednesday with more than 700 guests, over cases linked to Italy.
In France, a second person died - a teacher who had not visited any country with a known outbreak.
There have been nearly 50 deaths outside China, including 19 in Iran, according to a Reuters tally.
Iraq on Wednesday banned public gatherings and barred entry by travellers from Kuwait and Bahrain because of the spread of the new coronavirus.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for sports and cultural events to be scrapped or curtailed for two weeks as concern mounted for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
