Schools have been closed, sports events cancelled and cultural institutions shut around the world as countries try to stem the coronavirus outbreak.
In the US, all major sport has been suspended and Broadway performances are off for a month.
Meanwhile, France is one of the latest European countries to close all schools, universities and nurseries.
More than 125,000 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in 118 countries around the world, according to the World Health Organisation.
The total number of deaths is more than 4,600.
BBC News reports shares around the world have plunged again.
On Wall Street stocks plummeted about 10% in their worst day since the 1987 Black Monday crash, a fall mirrored on London's FTSE.
Some of the world's top museums and galleries have now shut their doors.
The Van Gogh museum and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, are closing until the end of March.
In the US, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the largest art museum in the world, said it was temporarily closing all three of its locations in the city.
All Smithsonian museums in Washington DC and New York City will close from tomorrow.
New York State's Governor Andrew Cuomo banned all gatherings of more than 500, prompting Broadway to suspend all its performances for a month.
[Source: BBC]
