Summary:

New Jersey confirms first presumptive case

Pentagon tracking 12 possible COVID-19 cases

NYC reports 2 more cases, raising total to 4

Italy postpones referendum vote

WHO's Tedros: "Now's the time to pull out the stops"

Tennessee confirms case

Nevada confirms first case

New Delhi closes primary schools

Italy to ask EU for permission to raise budget deficit as lawmakers approve €7.5 billion euros

Beijing tells residents not to share food

30-year-old Chinese man dies in Wuhan 5 days after hospital discharge

Cali authorities tell 'Grand Princess' cruise ship not to return to port until everyone is tested

Global case total passes 95k

Lebanon sees cases double to 31

France reports 2 more deaths

EY sends 1,500 Madrid employees home after staffer catches virus

Trump says he has a "hunch" true virus mortality rate is closer to 1%

Switzerland reports 1st death

South Africa confirms 1st case

UK chief medical officer confirms 'human-to-human' infections are happening in UK

UK case total hits 115

Google, Apple, Netflix cancel events

HSBC sends research department and part of London trading floor home

Facebook contract infected in Seattle

Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Netflix cancel events and/or ask employees to work from home

Netherlands cases double to 82

Spain cases climb 40, 1 new death

Belgium reports 27 new cases bringing total to 50

Germany adds 87 cases bringing total to 349

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Update (1100ET): The UK has reported that total coronavirus cases have risen to 115 from 85 earlier on Thursday, making the UK the latest European nation to see its total confirmed cases break above 100.

In the corporate sphere, accounting and consulting firm Ernst & Young sent around 1,500 employees from its Madrid offices home on Thursday after a staffer was confirmed to have contracted the virus.

As of March 5, the CDC has confirmed 100 cases in its lab, the agency said, meaning some cases reported by the states have yet to be 'officially' confirmed. It has also confirmed another death, bringing the total to 10 (meaning one reporteddeath has yet to be officially confirmed).

WHO's Dr. Tedros said Thursday during the NGOs daily presser that now is the time to "pull out all the stops" to combat the virus - which is ironic, considering the agency won't officially label the outbreak a 'pandemic', even though experts in the US have told the Washington Post and other media orgs that it is undoubtedly a pandemic.

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Update (1035ET): Another Italy update...

ITALY TO ASK EU FOR GO AHEAD TO RAISE BUDGET DEFICIT BY 0.35 PERCENTAGE POINTS OF GDP TO TACKLE CORONAVIRUS  GOVT SOURCE

Unsurprising given that lawmakers approved more than the recommended €5 billion.

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Update (1025ET): Xinhua reports 16 new cases have been confirmed in Lebanon, more than doubling the case total to 31.

Xinhua: Lebanon's COVID-19 cases rise to 16

In other news, Italy has dedicated more money to its coronavirus response than it initially expected. .

ITALY TO ALLOCATE EU7.5B FOR VIRUS RESPONSE STIMULUS: ANSA

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Update (1015ET): As we move closer to half of states having confirmed cases of their own, the Nevada Independent reported that Nevada officials had identified the first case of the virus in the state just minutes after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee confirmed the first case in his state.

NEVADA SEES FIRST CASE OF CORONAVIRUS IN PATIENT: NEV. IND.

17 states now have confirmed cases of Covid-19.

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