Ukraine and Gibraltar have today become the latest nations to record a case of the killer coronavirus.
Health officials in Ukraine revealed a man tested positive after catching the deadly infection in Italy and travelling to Chernivtsi via Romania.
Authorities said the man is in a stable condition in hospital. His wife has quarantined herself at home amid fears she may also be infected.
Gibraltar's health minister confirmed the British territory's case also travelled to Italy and said their partner was showing flu-like symptoms.
Almost 80 countries have now recorded cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that first emerged in China in December.
More than 91,000 patients have been infected across the world and at least 3,100 have died.
Ihor Kuzin, the acting head of the health ministry's public health center, confirmed the case in Chernivtsi – close to the border of Romania and Moldova.
Deputy health minister Viktor Lyashko said: 'Yesterday, I told you that we had four suspected cases. Today, one of those cases has been confirmed.'
Gibraltar's chief health minister Fabian Picardo confirmed the British territory's case on Twitter, but did not confirm the patient's identity.
He wrote: 'We have a confirmed case of #Coronavirus #Covid19 in Gibraltar. The patient had travelled to Northern Italy via Malaga airport.
'The patient is happily recovering well and their partner has no symptoms. We will make more information available as soon as we are able to.'
Eleven nations – including Ukraine and Gibraltar – have confirmed coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours.
Indonesia, Tunisia, Jordan, Andorra, Latvia, Portugal, Senegal, Morocco and Saudi Arabia were the other countries to be struck down.
Fewer than 90 per cent of all cases recorded worldwide are now in China, where the outbreak began in the deserted city of Wuhan in Hubei province.
World Health Organization statistics show the escalating crisis started to take hold outside of China on February 26.
Figures revealed it was the first day when the number of cases diagnosed in China was lower than the amount recorded in the rest of the world.
Ukraine's first case comes after protesters attacked six buses carrying evacuees from the epicentre of the outbreak in China.
Furious Ukrainians lit fires to block the roads leading to the hospital where evacuees were being taken. Rocks were thrown as the buses drove past.
Armoured vehicles carrying hundreds of armed police, national guardsmen and fire fighters were deployed to unblock the roads.
Security services sources said the protest may have been sparked by a fake email from health chiefs which claimed some were infected with the virus.
The evacuees, 45 Ukrainians and 37 foreign nationals, were flown from Wuhan to Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine on February 20.
President Volodymryr Zelensky urged the furious protesters to show some empathy towards their fellow citizens.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
