Xi visits virus' epicenter as fears of recession grip world

China's president visited the center of the global virus outbreak on March 10 as Italy began a sweeping nationwide travel ban and people worldwide braced for the possibility of recession.

President Xi Jinping's trip to the coronavirus' epicenter of Wuhan, his first since the start of the outbreak came, as parts of his country return to normalcy, and was a sign of the diminishing threat the illness presents in China as it spreads west.

Nowhere was that more evident than Italy, where travel restrictions previously limited to the country's north were extended everywhere beginning on March 10, with soldiers and police enforcing bans. Some 9,172 people were infected in Italy and 463 have died and there was a growing sense the numbers would only worsen.

"We're only at the beginning,'' said Dr. Massimo Galli, head of infectious disease at Sacco Hospital in Milan, where people at the city's main train station were required to sign forms certifying the necessity of their travel.

Outbreaks worsened in France, Spain and Germany, and fear grew in the United States, where more than 750 people are infected and even some top political leaders were quarantined.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

The World Health Organization says people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while severe cases may last three to six weeks. In mainland China, where the outbreak emerged in December, almost three-fourths of its more than 80,000 patients have recovered.

Regardless, the virus has shaken global markets, with stocks taking their worst one...