Trump appoints Pence to lead US response to coronavirus outbreak

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that Vice President Vice Pence will be in charge of his government's task force to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.

"I'm going to be announcing exactly right now that I'm going to be putting our Vice President Mike Pence in charge," Trump said on Wednesday.

Trump made the remarks during a press conference with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others to discuss the spread of the virus. The US on Wednesday reported another case of coronavirus bringing the total number of cases to 60, Washington Post reported.

Accusing the media of stoking fear among people Trump said:"The risk to the American people remains very low."

Coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people in 37 countries, causing more than 2,600 deaths in the past few months.

France reported the first death of a French citizen from the epidemic as cases grew rapidly across Europe, with Spain confirming eight new cases in the past 24 hours and new infections reported in Germany, Greece, France, Croatia, Austria and Switzerland.

A new case emerged in Brazil on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia suspended religious visits to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina on Thursday because of concerns about coronavirus, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.