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Two people in Florida have died from coronavirus, becoming the first U.S. fatalities outside of California and Washington state.

A total of 17 people have now died across the country and more than 330 cases have been confirmed nationwide. Pennsylvania announced its first cases.

Worldwide, more than 100,000 people have been infected, according to John Hopkins University and health experts are continuing to urge people to practice preventative measures, such as routine hand washing, in order to avoid COVID-19.

President Donald Trump on Friday morning signed a $8.3 billion emergency spending package to combat the virus.
Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak Download the NBC News app for latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak.

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Coronavirus updates live: First deaths outside west coast confirmed in Florida

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Two people in Florida have died from coronavirus, becoming the first U.S. fatalities outside of California and Washington state. A total of 17 people have now died across the country and more than 330 cases have been confirmed nationwide. Pennsylvania announced its first cases.

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This article was updated on March 7, 2020.

News about the coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan, China, is changing rapidly. The respiratory infection, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO), is closely related to SARS and MERS. While the majority of cases are in China, the disease has been diagnosed in dozens of other countries, including the United States. We'll provide the latest updates on cases, deaths, travel restrictions, and more here.

What is the latest news?

The number of cases of COVID-19 has surpassed 100,000 worldwide -- and 200 in the U.S. -- as the new coronavirus proves difficult for state and countries to stop.

In the U.S., the number of deaths increased to 19 as Florida officials said two people there had died from COVID-19. One is a previously known patient in Santa Rosa County who had recently been on an international trip The other is a person in their 70s who tested positive in Lee County, also after an international trip. Meanwhile, Florida officials also announced two new cases of OVD-19 infection.

Cases have spread across the country, from those West Coast states to Chicago to New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, down the East Coast to Washington, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida and west to Texas and Nevada.

Washington state continues to see tremendous spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. As of Saturday evening there were more than 100 cases there and 16 deaths. The remaining death was in Placer County, CA.

Impacts from the outbreak continued to grow, with the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin being the latest event cancelled. Facebook, Twitter and Amazon are some of the companies that had already all pulled out of the event before it was officially cancelled. In Washington state, the University of Washington is moving classes online starting Monday until March 20. Microsoft, which has two employees diagnosed with COVID-19, has asked staff to work from home.

Schools across the country are being closed, including suburban Philadelphia, the San Francisco area, the Seattle area and New York state.

In California, officials are delaying the landing of a Grand Princess cruise ship that was supposed to dock in San Francisco. On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence said 21 people on board the ship had tested positive, mostly crew members, according to media reports.

President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law a $8.3 billion spending plan to fight the new coronavirus. Trump visited CDC headquarters in Atlanta Friday.

Worldwide, the number of cases is nearly 100,000 and the number of deaths is now 3,400, according to the WHO. Although China still has the majority of cases and deaths, COVID-19 infections are growing rapidly in some countries, including Iran, Italy, and South Korea. Italy has the second highest number of deaths with 148.

In the U.S., federal health officials say to expect more. New York state has seen cases continue to close to double each of the past few days. There are now 76 cases in the Empire state, of which 11 are in New York City. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday the first two cases in the Upstate were confirmed as well, in Saratoga.

South Carolina and Washington, D.C., both announced their first cases. In South Carolina, state officials say a woman in her 80s near Columbia, SC, in Kershaw County tested positive. She had no known history of travel to sites of outbreaks. In Charleston County, a woman who works at the Medical University of South Carolina became ill after traveling to Europe.

In Washington, Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city had its first confirmed case. No other details were immediately available. She planned a Saturday evening news conference.

Illinois also added its sixth case.

The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says there are 338 confirmed cases in the U.S. as of Saturday morning. The U.S. CDC says, however, they have only confirmed 164, not including the 49 people repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship and from China itself.

Other recent cases come from Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Houston, Reno, NV, Maryland and Colorado.

The Pennsylvania cases are both in adults who are isolation in their homes. The Nebraksa case is the first in the state not related to the cruise ship passengers evacuated from the Diamond Princess. The 36-year- old woman had recently traveled to the United Kingdom and is in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit at the Nebraska Medical Center.

The Harris County, TX, Department of Public Health reported four new cases of COVID-19. One is in the city of Houston, three are in the county, and one is in Fort Bend County.

In Reno, local officials say a man in his 50s has been confirmed with COVID-19. He is "linked" to the Grand Princess cruise ship outbreak, officials said. No other details have been released.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency after health officials confirmed three cases in Montgomery County, just north of Washington, D.C. All three patients contracted the virus while traveling overseas and are quarantined in their homes.

Also, Colorado announced its first two cases, one of whom is an out-of-state visitor to Summit County, west of Denver, a popular skiing area. The person flew into Denver International Airport, rented a vehicle, and met with friends, all of whom stayed in a condo in Summit County.

The group skied at Keystone and Vail Mountain Resort. The patient is recovering in isolation in Jefferson County while his traveling companions have been quarantined.

The second Colorado cases is an elderly female who recently traveled overseas. She lives in Douglas County, south of Denver, and isolated at home.

Georgia reported three additional cases, all in and around the city of Atlanta, for six total. One of the state's first three patients is a woman in Floyd County in the northwest part of the state. The woman initially came to Floyd Medical Center with symptoms but did not meet testing CDC testing criteria for the virus. She returned March 3 when her symptoms got worse. The hospital asked for her to be tested and put her in isolation.

Of the 13 deaths in Washington state, six are in residents of the LifeCare skilled nursing facility. Washington state now has the most cases of COVID-19 with 79. The majority of those are in King County, which is no longer providing details about its cases. In Snohomish County, two of the new cases are in women who worked at LifeCare. One has underlying health conditions and is in the hospital, and one is recovering at home in isolation.

The other death is in California in Placer County, just north of Sacramento. Officials announced an elderly person who had recently gone on a Princess cruise to Mexico has died from COVID-19. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in California to help its efforts to control the outbreak. California has 53 cases, and one of the latest is in a medical screener who worked at Los Angeles International Airport, according to media reports.

While public health officials warn of more cases to come, they say that the risk to the public remains low.

In an effort to boost testing for the virus, the FDA is allowing other labs to do testing.

How many people have been diagnosed with the virus, and how many have died?

According to the European CDC, the majority of the more than 102,000 cases are in China. Nearly 15,000 are confirmed outside of China in more than four dozen countries and every continent except Antarctica. South Korea, Iran and Italy are the countries with the most cases outside of China. Of the 3,448 deaths, the majority are also in China.

Also, the Diamond Princess cruise shipfrom Japan had more than 700 cases, including six deaths. Two of the deaths were a husband and wife from Japan in their 80s.

With dozens of new COVID-19 cases recently exported from Italy and Iran, there's a very high risk that COVID-19 will spread globally, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week.

He declined to characterize the spread of the new virus as a pandemic, saying that currently, around the world, there are "linked epidemics" that can be traced to known contacts.

"We don't see evidence that the virus is spreading freely in communities," Tedros said.

In China, the director of one of Wuhan's leading hospitals is among those who died from COVID-19, according to media reports. Liu Zhiming, 51, was the head of the Wuchang Hospital. Another is Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, who was silenced by authorities when he was one of the first to sound the alarm about the coronavirus, The New York Times reported.

How many cases of COVID-19 are in the United States?

There are more than 200 cases in the U.S. of COVID-19. That number includes 46 cruise ship passengers that tested positive among the more than 300 evacuated by the U.S. last month and another three cases in people repatriated to the U.S. from China.

The U.S. cases are in:

Washington: 102 (includes 4 evacuated passengers)

New York: 76

California: 69 (includes 24 people evacuated from China)

Nebraska: 16 (15 evacuated cruise ship passengers, 7 have since been released)

Texas: 14 (includes 8 evacuated passengers)

Florida: 14

Illinois: 6

Georgia: 6

Oregon: 3

Maryland: 3

South Carolina: 2

Nevada: 2

Rhode Island: 2

Colorado: 2

Arizona: 2

New Hampshire: 2

Pennsylvania: 2

Massachusetts: 2

Washington, D.C: 1

Wisconsin: 1

North Carolina: 1

New Jersey: 1

Tennessee: 1

Not known: 4 (One cruise ship passenger who tested positive in Japan but was negative before returning home, and 3 other cruise ship passengers )

States reporting newer cases include:

New Hampshire: The Granite State's first case is an adult who works in health care who recently traveled to Italy. This person then infected a second person in New Hampshire.

Massachusetts: The state's second case is a woman in her 20s who recently traveled to Italy.

Oregon: The state's third case is in an adult and is not linked to travel. The adult attended a youth basketball game, which will be closed for cleaning. The person is in the hospital. The second case is in a person who is a household contact of the first case.

Illinois: The state's fourth case is a woman in her 70s and is the wife of the man who was the third case, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Both are considered community transmission.

Florida: It's first two cases are in adults. One had no travel history to a country affected by the outbreak, while the other had recently traveled to Italy, state health officials said. Both are in isolation.

Rhode Island: A man in his 40s and a teen who had been on the same trip to Europe in mid-February tested positive. A third person on the trip with symptoms is also being tested and is staying at home. The man is in the hospital, according to the state's department of health, while the teen is isolated at home with mild symptoms.

New York: A woman in her 30s who had recently traveled to Iran tested positive. The woman is not in serious condition and is in isolation in her home, according to a statement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

What are public officials doing to contain the virus?

The CDC said it has worked with states to expand testing for the virus. In addition to testing people who have symptoms and have recently traveled to areas where the infection is spreading, like China, Italy, and Japan, the CDC also plans to begin testing people with pneumonia that isn't caused by the flu through it's influenza-like illness surveillance network.

Nancy Missioners, MD, director of the CDC's Center for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said they hope the first sites in the network will begin testing this week and then they want to "rapidly expand" the testing to all 50 states.

Previously, the agency would only accept a test if the patient had traveled to China or had close contact with someone who had been there.

However, a shortage of specialized equipment to protect health care workers threatens the official coronavirus response.

The WHO said on Tuesday that supplies of personal protective equipment -- the gowns, masks, and goggles that health care workers wear to protect themselves from getting sick -- need to be increased by 40% to meet the demand of COVID-19 infections around the world.

"We can't stop COVID-19 without protecting our health care workers," Tedros said.

"Shortages are leaving doctors, nurses, and other front-line health workers dangerously ill-equipped to care for COVID-19 patients," he said.

Prices for remaining supplies have spiked, Tedros said. The price of surgical masks have more than tripled, and the costs of gowns have doubled.

Tedros said that market manipulation was widespread and stocks of these supplies are being sold to the highest bidder. He called on equipment manufacturers to urgently ramp up production to meet demand.

President Donald Trump announced last week that he was putting Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the U.S response.

In January, the U.S. declared the crisis a public health emergency and the WHO declared that the outbreak is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, or PHEIC.

The U.S. is banning any foreign visitors who have come from China and Iran from entering the country. All U.S. citizens who have visited China's Hubei province in the past 14 days will face mandatory quarantine for 14 days. Other visitors returning from China will be screened and asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. Their movements will be monitored.

Planes carrying Americans out of China have landed at one of four locations: Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, CA, southwest of Sacramento, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX, and Eppley Airfield in Omaha, NE. The CDC is coordinating the quarantines.

These are the first federal quarantine orders issued in 50 years, the last coming in the 1960s for smallpox evaluations, CDC officials said.

Some of the Americans who had been quarantined were released.

Public health officials kept the 195 evacuees at March Air Reserve Base for 14 days to monitor them for symptoms of the coronarvirus. None of them tested positive for the virus in that time, officials said, and they pose no health risk to the public.

Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the strict precautions are warranted because of "the issue now with this is that there are a lot of unknowns."

He pointed out that the number of cases "has steeply inclined each and every day."

We now know for certain that a person without symptoms can transmit the disease, Fauci said.

Health officials also clarified the distinctions between isolation and quarantine. Isolation is used to keep a person who's already sick from infecting others. Quarantines restrict the movement of someone who has been exposed but is not yet sick.

The CDC recently urged people to prepare for spread of the coronavirus, warning that it was likely to become more common in the U.S.

"Disruption to everyday life might be severe," Messonnier said. "It's not so much of a question of if this will happen in this country anymore but a question of when this will happen.

"We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad."

Which countries have travel restrictions?

The U.S. State Department has advised against travel to China and Iran, issuing a Level 4 advisory. It's also asking people to reconsider travel on any cruises that go to or within Asia.

The CDC has also issued a Level 3 travel advisory for South Korea, Iran, and Italy. That means people should avoid non-essential travel. There is a Level 2 travel advisory for Japan. Level 2 means that older people and people with chronic conditions should consider postponing non-essential travel. It has issued a Level 1 advisory for Hong Kong. Level 1 means to use precautions during travel. Also, foreign nationals from China and Iran are temporarily banned from entering the U.S.

Sources

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CDC: "2019 Novel Coronavirus."

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Johns Hopkins University, ESRI: "Wuhan Coronavirus (2019-knockoff) Global Cases."

World Health Organization: "Novel Coronavirus (2019-knockoff): Situation Report -- 2 (22 January 2020)."

Journal of Medical Virology: "Homologous recombination within the spike goalkeeping of the newly identified coronavirus may boost cross-species transmission from snake to human."

Bloom berg Law: "Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate Eyed for Human Trials by April (1)."

News conference, World Health Organization, Jan. 22, 2020.

Heath Montgomery, spokesperson, Les Angles International Airport.

Les Angles County Department of Health.

Arizona Department of Heath Services.

New York Times: "Coronavirus Live Updates."

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

News release, Texas A&M University, Jan. 23, 2020.

Orange County Health Care Agency.

Chicago Department of Public Health.

Bloom berg: "Airlines Cancel More Mainland China Flights to Counter Virus."

Riverside County Public Health Department.

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Patch.com.

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Santa Clara County Public Health.

MyNorthwest.com: "Snohomish County coronavirus patient discharged from hospital."

CNN: "Deadliest day for coronavirus as mainland China records 86 fatalities, while US announces first American death."

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Coronavirus 2020 Outbreak: Latest Updates

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COVID-19 Live Updates -- Everything you need to know about the coronavirus outbreak that has sickened tens of thousands -- including several in the United States -- and killed more than 1,000 people in China. It started in China but has spread to multiple countries and continents.

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March 7, 2020, 2:47 a.m. ET

Florida reported two deaths, bringing the toll in the United States to 17. The country has more than 300 confirmed infections.

Right Now

A South Korean city orders church members to submit to testing.

Here's what you need to know:

Image

Travelers at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York this week. Credit... Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Authorities across the United States reported 308 cases of coronavirus and 17 deaths as of Friday, with Florida reporting the first deaths on the East Coast. The number of infections does not count the 21 people who have tested positive aboard a cruise ship off California.

Florida officials on Friday night said there had been two deaths in the state related to the coronavirus. Both of the people who died had traveled internationally, they said.

Hawaii reported its first confirmed infection, a person who had been on the cruise ship, the Grand Princess.

The West Coast has borne the brunt of the toll in the United States. Washington State has recorded the most coronavirus cases, more than 80, and the highest number of deaths, 14. Most of the fatal cases emerged from a Seattle-area nursing home. Officials in King County, Wash., said 15 residents of the facility, Life Care Center, had been taken to hospitals over the past 24 hours.

Two residents of other Seattle-area complexes that largely serve elderly people have now also been hospitalized and tested positive, officials said, identifying them as Issaquah Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and Ida Culver House Ravenna.

Hubei, the Chinese province at the center of the coronavirus outbreak, reported on Saturday that for two consecutive days, the province had seen no new infections outside its capital, Wuhan. The news confirmed that China's new cases and deaths are increasingly concentrated in that city, where the virus emerged, while the rest of the province - and the rest of the country - are largely spared.

Hubei reported 74 new infections on Saturday, all in Wuhan. China also recorded 24 cases in people who had arrived from abroad, including 17 in Gansu, a northwest Chinese province. Excluding the infections in Wuhan and among arrivals from abroad, there was only one other new infection in the rest of China.

China also reported 28 deaths among those with the virus, all in Hubei Province. By comparison, there were 49 deaths from the virus in Italy on Friday.

The downward trend in China is a result of an all-out effort by the government to contain the spread of the disease, which has come at a great cost to the country's economy and its social life. Since January, the government has enacted nationwide quarantine and travel restrictions and placed Hubei under a strict lockdown, effectively penning in 56 million people.

The new numbers reflect a steep decline from just a few weeks earlier. At one point in early February, Hubei reported more than 1,400 new cases outside Wuhan in one day.

One of the government-appointed Chinese researchers working to control the outbreak told the state-run newspaper People's Daily on Thursday that, based on the data, he expected Wuhan to hit zero new infections later this month.

The South Korean city of Daegu has ordered members of a Christian sect at the center of the country's coronavirus outbreak to be tested for the virus by the end of Saturday.

Daegu, a southeastern city of about 2.4 million, has been scrambling to test more than 10,000 members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus within its jurisdiction since last month, when it became clear that its followers had been spreading the virus in Daegu and elsewhere. Local officials are still trying to locate and test more than 1,000 members of Shincheonji, which is considered a cult by many other South Korean Christian churches.

South Korea, whose coronavirus outbreak is the biggest outside China, reported 483 new infections on Saturday, bringing its total caseload to 6,767, including 47 deaths. More than 5,000 of those infected are Daegu residents, and a vast majority of them belong to the church.

"Yesterday alone, we tested 709 Shincheonji members and 236 of them tested positive,"Daegu's mayor, Kwon Young-jin, said on Saturday. "This is why church members should extend their self-isolation and must subject themselves to testing."

Mr. Kwon issued an executive order that made the testing mandatory. Anyone who disobeys it can be fined under South Korea's laws on controlling epidemics.

Mr. Kwon said the church members' tendency to live and worship in groups made them likelier than others to spread the virus.The church's founder, Lee Man-hee, recently apologized for its role in the outbreak but said the church had been cooperating with the authorities.

On Saturday, Daegu placed two adjacent apartment buildings under quarantine after 46 of their residents, all of them Sincheonji members, were confirmed to have the virus.

The number of infections climbed past 7,300 in Europe on Friday - more than doubling in just three days.

France, Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and others each recorded their biggest one-day increases in cases. More than 30 European countries now have cases; 10 of them have at least 100 each.

A member of the French Parliament tested positive for the virus. Doctors in Britain warned that the already-strained health care system there could be overwhelmed as the outbreak grows, and the country had its second coronavirus death.

In Italy, with the worst outbreak outside of Asia, the toll rose on Friday to more than 4,600 cases, 197 of them fatal, increases of almost 800 infections and 49 deaths from the day before. Only China has had more people die from the new coronavirus.

Pope Francis has had a cold for over a week, and on Thursday, a Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said that the pontiff's illness was "running its due course."

He also told reporters that the Vatican was "studying measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19," the disease caused by the new coronavirus, that could affect coming activities involving the pope.

Germany, France and Spain, with the next-largest outbreaks in Europe, reported more than 1,700 cases combined, up from fewer than 1,200 on Thursday. In Switzerland, the confirmed caseload doubled, to more than 200.

Outside Europe, in Iran's outbreak, one of the world's largest, the government reported more than 4,700 infections, an increase of more than 1,200 from the day before.

Edouard Philippe, the French prime minister, announced a 15-day school closure in two regions, Oise and Haut-Rhin.

China's trade has suffered as the epidemic crippled factory production, paralyzed much of the country's trucking industry and created temporary backlogs at ports.

Exports from China, the world's largest manufacturer and its second largest economy, tumbled 17.2 percent in the first two months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to data released Saturday morning by the General Administration of Customs. Imports fell 4 percent.

China's imports of meat, soybeans, medicines and medical equipment offset declines in imports of semiconductors, as the country's electronics factories shut down for weeks.

The timing of Lunar New Year celebrations affected the data, making it hard to compare either January or February separately to the same months last year. The weeklong holiday fell in late January this year and was in early February last year.

Companies try every year to export and import as much as possible before the holiday. Such shipments in early January, when the Chinese authorities were still concealing the spread of the disease, may have dampened the steepness of this year's drop.

The decline reflected two problems: fewer goods were being produced, and what was being made could not be transported. Gao Gao, a deputy secretary general of the Chinese government's National Development and Reform Commission, said at a news briefing on Friday morning that 80 percent of China's logistics companies had told the government that they had been severely affected.

By the end of February, only 70 percent of the industry's trucks and other vehicles were operating, partly because many drivers are stranded far from their employers by quarantines and other obstacles, Mr. Gao said. China is trying to address the problem by ordering that once drivers complete a 14-day quarantine upon their return from their hometowns at the end of holidays, they do not have to undergo additional quarantines in cities that they visit while driving cargo.

With the coronavirus spreading in the United States, the N.B.A. reminded its teams on Friday about the protocol for postponing or canceling games, and for playing without fans in attendance. The basketball league has not indicated that it plans to pursue any of those options.

According to a memo sent to teams on Friday, the league's protocol requires a series of actions before such changes, including consultation with the affected teams and written notice from a top league official. Separately, the N.B.A. and its players' union recently advised against high-fives and handshakes in favor of fist bumps, to limit the spread of germs.

The N.B.A. could be particularly affected by the epidemic in states that have declared a state of emergency, such as California. The mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, has called for sporting events to be canceled. San Francisco is the home of the Chase Center, where the N.B.A'.s Golden State Warriors play. On Friday, the Warriors released a statement that listed new sanitizing measures the team had implemented.

As for games without fans, the league has advised teams to prepare contingency plans that would include deciding which staff members would need to attend. Teams were also told to prepare for the possibility of implementing temperature checks for anyone who would be considered essential for such a game, including players and referees.

LeBron James of the Lakers told a reporter that he wouldn't play if fans weren't present.

The league rarely postpones games and almost never cancels them. This season has been an exception because of the death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26. Mr. Bryant, who retired in 2016, spent 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, who were scheduled to play a game two days after his death. That game, against the Los Angeles Clippers, was postponed until April, causing three other games to be rescheduled.

The N.B.A. also announced on Tuesday that because of the coronavirus, it would postpone the first season of its Basketball Africa League, a professional league of 12 teams that had been set to debut in Senegal on March 13.

The 34th annual edition of South by Southwest, the annual festival of music, film and technology in Austin, Tex., that has become a global draw, was ordered canceled on Friday by local officials over fears about the spread of coronavirus.

Festival organizers and government officials had come under intense pressure in recent days to pull the plug, with more than 50,000 people signing an online petition and a growing list of tech companies - among them Apple, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok - announcing their withdrawal.

The festival was to have run from March 13-22, with events spread across bars and party spaces in Austin, in addition to the main conference activities.

The cancellation is perhaps the largest collateral damage of the virus so far on the international cultural calendar. Last year, South by Southwest's various events had a combined attendance of 417,000, including 159,000 who came to the music portion, according to festival figures.

Two other large-scale, multiday gatherings were also called off or pushed back on Friday: Emerald City Comic Con, a convention that draws thousands of people to Seattle each year, was postponed until the summer; and the Ultra Music Festival, an electronic dance music event held annually in Miami, where city officials blocked the event from going on.

All of the 3,533 people aboard a cruise ship idling off San Francisco will be tested for the coronavirus, after 19 crew members and two passengers tested positive, Vice President Mike Pence said on Friday.

The ship, the Grand Princess, had been halted off the coast on Wednesday, until passengers with possible coronavirus symptoms or exposure could be tested. On Thursday, a Coast Guard helicopter flew testing kits to the ship and flew samples for 46 people back to shore.

"Twenty-one of those on the ship tested positive for the coronavirus, 24 tested negative and one test was inconclusive," Mr. Pence said at a White House news briefing - blindsiding the passengers and the ship's operators.

"We have developed a plan which will be implemented this weekend to bring the ship into a noncommercial port," he added. "All passengers and crew will be tested for the coronavirus. Those that need to be quarantined will be quarantined. Those that require additional medical attention will receive it."

Mr. Pence said the Defense Department was working to locate a California military base where passengers on the ship could be tested. Two air bases in the state have been used to house quarantined Americans repatriated from Asia.

Shortly after Mr. Pence's briefing, the ship captain came over the loudspeaker and apologized that passengers were getting updates from television news rather than him. The captain said that he had not received any advance notice about the news briefing and that the ship would notify individuals of their test results "as soon as possible."

The Princess cruise line said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials had told the doctor on board of the results as Mr. Pence was speaking.

President Trump, speaking at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said he would have preferred not to let the passengers disembark onto American soil."I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault," he said. "And it wasn't the fault of the people on the ship either. Okay? It wasn't their fault either. And they are mostly Americans."

He added that, after all, he had authorized federal health officials to make the decision.

If you're returning from an area that's had a coronavirus outbreak, or if you've been in close contact with someone who tests positive, you may be asked to isolate yourself at home for two weeks, the presumed incubation period for the coronavirus.

It's not easy to lock yourself away from your family and friends. These are the basics.

Isolation If you are infected or have been exposed to the coronavirus, you must seclude yourself from your partner, your housemates, your children, your elderly aunt and even your pets. If you don't have your own room, one should be designated for your exclusive use. No visitors unless it's absolutely essential. Don't take the bus, subway or even a taxi.

Masks If you must be around other people - in your home, or in a car, because you're on your way to see a doctor (and only after you've called first) - wear a mask. Everyone else should, too.

Hygiene Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue to cough or sneeze, and discard it in a lined trash can. Immediately wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. You can use sanitizer, but soap and water are preferred. Wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, if you haven't just washed them.

Disinfecting Don't share dishes, drinking glasses, eating utensils, towels or bedding. Wash these items after you use them. Use a household cleaner to wipe down countertops, tabletops, doorknobs, bathrooms fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets and bedside tables. That also goes for any surfaces that may be contaminated by bodily fluids.

Household members When around the patient, wear a face mask, and add gloves if you're touching anything that might carry the patient's bodily fluids. Dispose of the mask and gloves immediately. The elderly members and those with chronic medical conditions should minimize contact with the secluded individual.

Reporting was contributed by Eliza Shapiro, Katie Rogers, Roni Caryn Rabin, Keith Bradsher, Thomas Fuller, Sarah Mervosh, Tim Arango, Jenny Gross, Ben Sisario, Julia Jacobs, Amy Qin, Sopan Deb and Marc Stein.

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Coronavirus Live Updates: U.S. Outbreak Spreads as East Coast Sees Its First Deaths

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March 7, 2020, 2:47 a.m. ET Florida reported two deaths, bringing the toll in the United States to 17. The country has more than 300 confirmed infections. Right Now A South Korean city orders church members to submit to testing.

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Coronavirus: Are women and children less affected? - BBC News

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What could explain the lower death rates in women and children?