“We have never lived through anything like this,” Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told a parliament chamber nearly empty with more than 90% of lawmakers staying away and a masked and gloved cleaner wiping handrails between speeches.

There was particular alarm in Italy, which has experienced an unusually high death rate – 2,503 from 31,506 cases – and was calling on student and retired doctors to help an overwhelmed health service.

Nearly every stock market in Asia was down and circuit breakers were hit in Seoul, Jakarta and Manila. Traders reported huge strains in bond markets as distressed funds sold any liquid asset to cover losses in stocks and redemptions from investors.

In recent days, China has increasingly focused its counter-epidemic efforts on inbound travellers as the coronavirus rapidly expanded its global footprint, raising the prospect of a second wave of infections arriving from abroad.

The Trump administration is also considering a plan to send checks to individual Americans of $1,000 to help them weather the crisis, though details remain unclear.

But while the main aim is to avoid deaths – currently at nearly 7,500 – global powers were also focussing their attention on how to limit the inevitably devastating economic impact.

In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.3%, led by a 4.9% fall in Australia while Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.6%.