Coronavirus reaches Latin America

Brazil on Wednesday reported its first case of the new coronavirus. Airports throughout Latin America set up screening teams in response. Peru posted specialists around the clock at Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima, and Venezuela asked arriving passengers to fill out health questionnaires. This week, the number of new cases outside of China for the first time exceeded the number in the country where the outbreak began, the World Health Organization said.

How are other countries bracing for the virus? Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday called for schools nationwide to close down for weeks, affecting about 12.8 million students. Saudi Arabia banned foreign pilgrims from visiting Islam’s most revered sites in Mecca. The number of cases around the world has reached approximately 82,000.

Dig deeper: Read June Cheng’s report on an American who was quarantined on the stricken cruise ship Diamond Princess.