Stock markets around the world sold off on Monday morning as spiking coronavirus cases in Italy, South Korea and the Middle East sparked fears of further spread beyond China.
South Korea's Kospi index closed down 3.9% while Italy's FTSE MIB plunged more than 1,350 points, or 5.5%, by the close.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 benchmark tumbled 3.8%, with Britain's FTSE 100, France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX all falling sharply.
Stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 800 points Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes also falling.
"Regular readers will know that our four projected COVID-19 scenarios were 'bad, worse, ugly, and unthinkable'," Rabobank analysts said in a note Monday.
"Current news today suggests risks that the base case is rapidly shifting from 'bad,' meaning only China is impacted, to 'ugly,' where both emerging Asia and developed economies see soaring infection rates and deaths."
A seventh person infected with the coronavirus died in Italy on Monday, according to local media, while the number of confirmed cases rose to more than 220 in the country.
The Italian government has placed a dozen northern towns under quarantine and closed down schools, museums and cinemas. Public events including the Venice Carnival and several high-profile soccer matches have been cancelled.
South Korea's government meanwhile raised the coronavirus alert to its highest level. The country confirmed 231 new cases on Monday, bringing the total there to more than 830. Authorities reported that a seventh person had died.
Meanwhile, Iran has now reported 12 deaths and 61 cases, prompting schools and universities to close and a sealing of borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kuwait and Bahrain have reported cases in people who visited Iran.
Oil prices were also tumbling, with Brent Crude down by around 5.2% to $55.45 per barrel and WTI shedding 4.9% to around $50.74 a barrel.
Traditional "safe-haven" assets were surging as investors ran for cover, with gold up another 1.9% during afternoon trade in Europe, having earlier hit new new seven-year highs of around $1,685 per troy ounce.
U.S. Treasury yields, which move inversely to price, also fell sharply, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note down at 1.3672% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond down at 1.8241%, coming back slightly from an all-time low earlier in the day. Germany's 10-year Bund yield fell to -0.4810%.