S.Korea reports 571 more virus cases for the day, total 2,337 

- Japanese island of Hokkaido declares state of emergency over pace of virus transmission, urges residents to stay home
- Japan closes all its elementary, secondary and high schools, and cancels sporting events and concerts; Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea to close until mid-March (Read more)

- Nigeria, New Zealand confirm their first cases of novel coronavirus

- Egypt's only COVID-19 case released from hospital 
- The US stock market on Thursday suffers its worst blow so far in a bad week 
- Chinese mainland reports 433 new infections of novel coronavirus, 29 new deaths

- Hubei reports 409 new new infections of novel coronavirus, 26 new deaths
- Zhong Nanshan says he believes the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic will basically be brought under control on the Chinese mainland by the end of April
- Though the first case of novel coronavirus pneumonia was reported in China, its source may not come from the country - Zhong Nanshan
- A joint inspection team went on Feb 26 to Hubei province to investigate the case of an infected former prisoner who came to Beijing after being released
- Over 30% of SMEs in China resume work

- Scenic areas that have resumed operations should take stringent epidemic-control measures - China's culture and tourism authority

- The Chinese Embassy in S.Korea donates around 25,000 medical masks to the southeastern city of Daegu; Shanghai provided 500,000 masks to Daegu and its surrounding North Gyeongsang Province
- For the first time, the number of new infections inside China was overtaken by fresh cases elsewhere on Feb 26
- The Republic of Korea has 1,766 coronavirus infections, 13 deaths
- Japan's Abe says the government will ask all elementary, junior-high and high schools to temporarily close beginning March 2, a couple of weeks ahead of the spring break
- The outbreak of coronavirus in Ian has affected 245 people, including vice-president and deputy health minister; 26 have died