1. The WHO officially declared the coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic, which smashed Wall Street and is anticipated to have similar effects on the ASX.

2. There are now 77 confirmed cases of coronavirus in NSW, with another 12 people diagnosed overnight. More than 121,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 4300 have died from COVID-19.

3. The Federal Government will announce a stimulus package with an estimated worth of $15 billion, to boost business and save jobs amid the coronavirus outbreak. Upon the WHO's announcement of the pandemic, Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: "What matters is then how you manage it within the community and that's why we scaled up the investment in our health system, with over 100 pop-up clinics and money for additional testing."

4. Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the country will close all shops, bars and restaurants except pharmacies and food stores in efforts to contain the novel coronavirus.

5. The words "bear market" are creeping up in headlines more commonly as Wall Street closed with a hit on Wednesday. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 23,551.02, down around 1,470 points, or 5.9 per cent. The S&P 500 slumped 4.9 per cent to 2,741.31, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 4.7 per cent to 7,952.05.