US President Donald Trump declared a national state of emergency as the World Health Organization named Europe the new epicenter of the coronavirus, with countries sealing borders, shutting schools and canceling events in a frenzied attempt to slow the ballooning pandemic.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday that he is declaring the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency, as Washington struggles with providing Americans with relief and officials race to slow the spread of the outbreak.

Speaking from the Rose Garden, Trump said, "I am officially declaring a national emergency." He said it would free up as much as $50 billion for state and local governments to respond to the outbreak. Trump also waived interest on federally held student loans and moved to prop up energy markets, by directing the Department of Energy to buy oil to fill the strategic petroleum reserve "right up to the top."

Italy on Friday recorded its highest one-day death toll yet from cases of the new coronavirus, according to official data.

As he watches his troops firing rockets and artillery shells, one of the many things that marks North Korean leader Kim Jong Un out from the officers alongside him is his coronavirus mask: it isn't there.

Kim has overseen multiple military drills in recent weeks as Pyongyang mounts an all-out drive to prevent an outbreak of the disease that has swept around the world from neighboring China.

The World Health Organization said Friday that Europe was now the "epicenter" for the global coronavirus pandemic -- and warned it was impossible to know when the outbreak would peak.

The continent had now "more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from China", said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday he had tested negative for the new coronavirus, after a scare over a trip on which at least one infected member of his staff rubbed shoulders with Donald Trump.

Italians are beating the social isolation imposed by the country's coronavirus lockdown by taking to their windows and singing in unison, with videos of the phenomenon racking up thousands of views online.

Since Monday a series of decrees from the Italian government have drastically limited citizens' movements, with vast swathes of the economy shut down and people instructed to leave the house only when strictly necessary.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a White House news conference Friday, his latest attempt to restore public confidence in his handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Trump, who has been criticized for persistently downplaying the pandemic, said in a tweet that this would take place at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT).

U.S. actor Tom Hanks, the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta are among the rich and famous infected by the coronavirus:

Switzerland will close its schools in a bid to halt the spread of the new coronavirus, the government said Friday, adding that it would provide billions in aid to hard-hit businesses.