SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported 161 new cases of the coronavirus that has spread rapidly in the region surrounding its southwest city of Daegu, bringing its total number of cases to 763.

Officials on Monday also confirmed two more deaths of virus patients, bringing its death toll to seven.

South Korea’s president said Sunday that he was putting his country on its highest alert for infectious diseases, ordering officials to take “unprecedented, powerful” steps to stem the spread of the outbreak.

The coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 illness has infected tens of thousands of people, mostly in China.

A continent away from where the viral illness emerged, authorities in Italy battled to contain Europe’s first major outbreak and Iran reported eight deaths — the highest toll outside of China. While the number of patients worldwide is increasing, some virus clusters have shown no link to China and experts are struggling to trace where those clusters started.