Global coronavirus infections near 100,000, deaths top 3,300

The number of confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus approached 99,000 on Friday and the deaths attributed to the new virus topped 3,300 in at least 15 countries. The infection rate is slowing in the epicenter of the global outbreak, China's Hubei province, but the coronavirus is still spreading in the U.S. and elsewhere. "This is not a drill," Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, warned nations on Thursday. "This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops."

In the U.S., at least 13 people have died from COVID-19, 12 of them in Washington State, and more than 230 people have tested positive for the virus. A cruise ship with 3,500 people is under quarantine off San Francisco, after one person died and at least four were infected and one died after the previous cruise. A military helicopter lowered test kits down to the Grand Princess by rope. And in New York City, the Department of Health says it is monitoring 2,733 people in home isolation, mostly under self-quarantine.

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