Coronavirus: Number of confirmed global cases nears 100,000

The number of coronavirus cases globally approached 100,000 as the outbreak in the U.S. gathered pace, and China and South Korea continued to report new infections and deaths.

China, where the pathogen originated, reported 143 more cases for Thursday and 30 additional deaths, down from highs reported in February. The total number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 80,552. South Korea confirmed 827 new infections, for a total of 6,593, and said the death toll rose to 42. Most of the infections still are in the southern city of Daegu.

The coronavirus is having a greater impact on the tech titans in Silicon Valley and Seattle as both locations report more confirmed cases of coronavirus, including deaths.

Google told its Bay Area employees they can work from home because of the outbreak, according to a person familiar with the matter. The voluntary policy covers headquarters in Mountain View, California, and campuses in Sunnyvale and San Francisco.

Just this week, Google called off its flagship conference, a May event called I/O, that attracts thousands of people involved in building apps and websites for the company’s digital services.

Microsoft Corp. disclosed the first known cases of coronavirus infection among its employees Thursday, joining Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. in revealing the disease in their ranks.

Microsoft said two employees working out of its Washington offices have contracted Covid-19. Both workers were quarantined, a company representative said.

Earlier, Facebook encouraged all staff in the Bay Area to work from home starting Friday. The social-media giant said it will review the situation on a weekly basis.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)