South Korea says North Korea has fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea, calling it “very inappropriate” at a time when the world is battling the coronavirus pandemic.

South Korea’s military says North Korea has fired three unidentified projectiles off its eastern coast.

Nations around the world girded for months of disruptions from the new virus Thursday as its unrelenting spread brought ballooning infections, economic fallout and sweeping containment measures.

Saudi Arabia banned citizens from performing the Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca, Italy ordered schools to close nationwide and Iran canceled Friday prayers for a second week as nations scrambled Wednesday to control the coronavirus outbreak.

Six people have now died from coronavirus in Washington state, health officials said Monday as local leaders said they would purchase a hotel to use as a hospital and provide housing for vulnerable homeless people amid outbreak fears.

North Korea fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles into the sea as it resumed weapons demonstrations following a months-long hiatus.

The coronavirus outbreak began to look more like a worldwide economic crisis Friday as anxiety about the infection emptied shops and amusement parks, canceled events, cut trade and travel and dragged already slumping financial markets even lower.

As fears around the coronavirus continue to rise in South Korea, long lines formed as people looked to buy face masks to help prevent the spread of the virus.

As the worst-hit areas of Asia continued to struggle with a new virus, with hundreds more cases reported Thursday in South Korea and China, worries about infection and containment spread across the globe.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries postponed their annual joint drills Thursday out of concerns over a viral epidemic that has infected soldiers in both countries’ armed forces, put many troops in quarantine and closed base facilities.

South Korean virus cases jumped again Wednesday and the U.S. military confirmed its first case among soldiers based in the Asian country, with his case and many others connected to a southeastern city with an illness cluster.

China bought the world valuable time with its travel restrictions and huge lockdowns. Now, as the world teeters on the brink of a pandemic of the new virus, hospitals are counting boxes of masks and gloves. Authorities are asking for cooperation from schools, churches and businesses. In many nations, existing plans for pandemic influenza are being adapted because the new...

China and South Korea on Tuesday reported more cases of a new viral illness that has been concentrated in North Asia but is creating worrisome, increasing clusters in the Middle East and Europe.

More than 100 dogs bred to become South Korean dinner entrees are being rescued by the Humane Society International and sent to an animal welfare center in New Jersey.

South Korea reported another large jump in new virus cases a day after the the president called for “unprecedented, powerful” steps to combat the outbreak that is increasingly confounding attempts to stop the spread.

South Korea’s president has put his country on its highest alert for infectious diseases, saying Sunday that officials should take “unprecedented, powerful” steps to fight a viral outbreak.

South Korea on Saturday reported a six-fold jump in viral infections in four days to 433, most of them linked to a church and a hospital in and around the fourth-largest city where health workers scrambled to screen more than 9,000 worshipers.

In the coronavirus outbreak, it’s not the rising numbers that are worrying experts: It’s that they can’t trace where some disease clusters started.

South Korea is grappling with a ballooning number of cases of a new virus

President Donald Trump is apparently not a fan of “Parasite,” his biggest complaint being that the movie was made in South Korea.