Interactive map reveals coronavirus' reach

The map is updated daily.
The map is updated daily. Photo credit: Johns Hopkins University's Whiting School of Engineering

As coronavirus continues to spread around the world, an online dashboard show exactly how far the disease has spread since it was first discovered in December last year, giving daily updates on the outbreak.

More than 8000 cases of infection have been confirmed so far, with the death toll at 212.

The majority of the cases have been in China, though more than a dozen other countries have also been hit. 

As of Friday, no cases have been confirmed in New Zealand, though the Ministry of Health warned earlier this week that the likelihood of the virus reaching here was high.

The dashboard, featuring an interactive map, is made by Johns Hopkins University's Whiting School of Engineering and uses information from the World Health Organisation, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention various Chinese health sources.

It is updated daily to show the latest figures.

As of Friday, the map shows 8,124 confirmed cases in China, with 4,903 of those in Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak.

There are 14 cases in Thailand, 11 in Japan and 10 in Hong Kong and Singapore. Australia and Taiwan have both had nine confirmed cases, with seven recorded in Macau, six in the US, five in France and four in Germany, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. Canada and Vietnam have recorded three and two cases respectively. 

Cambodia, Finland, India, Nepal, the Philippines and Sri Lanka each have one case.

All deaths have occurred in China.

Earlier on Friday the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a public health emergency over the outbreak. 

"We don't know what kind of damage this virus could do if it were to spread to a country with a weaker health system," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

New Zealand's Ministry of Health reacted to WHO's upgrading of the situation by saying there would be no change in how the country responds to the threat.