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All times below are in Eastern time.
Total cases: More than 28,000 as of Thursday morning.
Total deaths: At least 565 worldwide as of Thursday morning
8:10 am: Russia reportedly rejects OPEC’s proposal to impose further oil cuts
Russia is thought to be standing in the way of further OPEC-led production cuts, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing unnamed cartel delegates. The Saudi-led producer group has been unable to reach a consensus over its response to China’s coronavirus outbreak. It comes after delegates representing OPEC and non-OPEC allies, sometimes referred to as OPEC+, met for three days to debate whether further output cuts would be necessary in order to offset falling demand for crude. Earlier in the day, an OPEC technical panel recommended a provisional cut of 600,000 barrels per day, Reuters reported, citing two sources. International benchmark Brent crude traded at $55.07 on Thursday, down around 0.4%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate stood at $50.85, around 0.2% higher.
6:30 am: Tesla temporarily closes China stores amid coronavirus fears
6:20 am: Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers set up coronavirus task force
The organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games have set up a task force in an attempt to counter intensifying fears about the coronavirus outbreak. Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto he will run the newly-created Novel Coronavirus Countermeasures Task Force, Reuters reported. The group held its first meeting on Tuesday, Muto told reporters, and a second briefing could take place as soon as Friday. The Olympic Games are set to take place from July 24 to Aug. 9, with the Paralympic Games scheduled to run from Aug. 25 to Sept. 6.
5:10 am: US urges WHO to ‘engage directly’ with Taiwan, prompting China to hit back
The U.S. pushed for the World Health Organization to “engage directly” with Taiwan in the fight against the coronavirus on Thursday, prompting a swift rebuke from Beijing’s ambassador to the United Nations health agency. Andrew Bremberg, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said it is a “technical imperative that WHO present visible public health data on Taiwan as an affected area and engage directly with Taiwan public health authorities on actions,” Reuters reported. In response, China’s delegation expressed “strong dissatisfaction” that some countries had raised the issue of Taiwan’s participation at WHO. Taiwan is not a member of the WHO due to China’s objections. Beijing considers self-governing Taiwan a wayward province to be brought under its control. Separately, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Joanne Ou, slammed China and the WHO for providing inaccurate information about the number of coronavirus cases in Taiwan. The WHO reported Tuesday that the island had 13 cases, when there were only 10 at that time.
Read CNBC’s coverage from our Asia-Pacific and Europe teams overnight: US and China clash at WHO over Taiwan’s participation, death toll tops 500
— Reuters and CNBC’s Saheli Roy Choudhury and Sam Meredith contributed to this report.