Crews scrubbed everything from money to buses, military bases were on high alert and quarantines were enforced Wednesday from a beachfront resort in the Atlantic to a remote island in the Pacific, as the world worked to halt the fast-spreading virus that for the first time counted more new cases outside China than inside the country, where the epidemic originated. Worries over the ever-expanding economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis multiplied, with factories idled, trade routes frozen and tourism crippled, while a growing list of nations braced for the illness to breach their borders. Even the Olympics, five months away, wasn’t far enough off to keep people from wondering if it would go on as planned.

More than 100 people on Long Island are being monitored for coronavirus, health officials said Wednesday, as Nassau County awaits test results on one person who showed symptoms of the virus. There are no confirmed cases of the coronavirus, known as COVID-19, in New York State, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said. But a Nassau County resident is quarantined at home until the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention complete testing on a sample from that individual, according to state Health Department Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. The residents have been asked to undergo voluntary isolation, removing themselves from people, including their family members, for 14 days from the last time they were in mainland China or may have been exposed to the virus.

Delta Air Lines is reducing flights to South Korea while Hawaiian Airlines will suspend them entirely, as airlines deal with growing concern about the spread of the new virus beyond China. Delta said Wednesday that it will suspend flights between Seoul and Minneapolis after Saturday and running through April 30. Delta also said it will reduce flights from Seoul to Atlanta, Detroit and Seattle to five times a week. The airline said last fall that it was operating about 28 flights per week on those routes. The Atlanta-based airline, the world’s largest by revenue, will also delay the start of new flights between Seoul’s Incheon Airport and Manila. Instead of beginning March 29, the launch has been pushed back to May 1.

Ha’Mekubal Harav Gamliel Rabinowitz publicized a special message to his chassidim and talmidim about the rapidly spreading coronavirus crisis. “The coronavirus is an epidemic,” Harav Gamliel said. “We need to guard ourselves so it won’t affect us. I promise you – with the bracha of a Kohen – someone who davens with a minyan is like he’s in a protected room, a bunker. It’s a bomb shelter – nothing will happen to him, not to him and not to anyone in his family.” “Have mercy on yourselves and you can test this. Whoever davens with a minyan, [the virus] won’t have any control over him. Take davening with a minyan seriously and not speaking during davening. Don’t cause tzaar to the Borei Olam and you’ll have a special protection for you and your families.” “Do this and you’ll succeed.

A police officer from a Long Island department shot and killed a man in New York City after chasing him across the border into the city, police said. The Nassau County Police Department released few details of the shooting that occurred at about 5 p.m. Tuesday in southeastern Queens. The department said in a statement late Tuesday that its officers “were involved in a shooting incident with a subject who was fatally wounded.” New York City police referred questions to the Nassau police. Witnesses told Newsday that the shooting happened on a busy street during rush hour. Laron Josephs, 32, said he was leaving a nearby McDonald’s with his 4-year-old daughter when he heard shots and saw a crowd move toward the loud bangs. “I seen a bullet in the door,” Josephs said.

U.S. sales of new homes jumped 7.9% in January to the fastest pace in more than 12 years, a positive sign for economic growth. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that new homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 764,000 last month. That’s the highest sales rate since July 2007, shortly before the U.S. economy slumped into the Great Recession. Half of January’s sales gains came from people buying homes that have yet to be constructed, possible evidence that low mortgage rates may be driving their decisions to purchase. Borrowing costs for home loans have tumbled since 2018. But a shortage of properties on the market means that prices are also rising quickly. The median price of a new home surged 14% from a year ago to $348,200. (AP)

A brazen thief who dressed up as a yeshivah bochur to steal a valuable watch two months ago was indicted on Wednesday following an intensive police investigation which revealed how the robbery was planned and carried out, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported. The investigation revealed that a few days prior to the robbery, the suspect and an accomplice entered the jewelry store and expressed interest in the watches while simultaneously staking out the store. On the day of the robbery, the suspect, disguised as a yeshivah bochur, entered the store and expressed interest in a certain watch. Meanwhile, an accomplice entered the store shortly after the suspect but noticed that the door of the store didn’t open. The accomplice shook his head no the suspect and the two men left.

Australia’s prime minister and Israel’s president on Wednesday discussed an extradition request for a former school principal whose alleged abuse of dozens of Australian schoolgirls has cast a shadow over the Israeli leader’s visit. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and President Reuven Rivlin discussed their “strong commitment to seeing justice” in the case of the former principal, Malka Leifer, during a meeting at Parliament House, officials said. An opposition lawmaker said Rivlin had offered to personally intervene in the case if progress is not made in court this week. Leifer has been fighting extradition from Israel for six years and the legal wrangle to bring her before an Australian court has caused a diplomatic strain between the allies.

Former Gov. Pat Quinn and more than 80 other top Illinois Democrats are endorsing Joe Biden for president, as the former vice president looks ahead to a state that votes weeks after Super Tuesday’s contests. Biden’s campaign released the list of endorsements on Wednesday. Besides Quinn, who served as governor from 2009 to 2015, the list includes former Chicago Deputy Mayor Andrea Zopp, state Sen. and Assistant Majority Leader Iris Martinez and Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering. Rotering previously endorsed California Sen. Kamala Harris, who dropped out of the Democratic presidential race last year. Zopp, who previously led the Chicago Urban League, said Biden knows first-hand the struggle working people go through to get out of poverty because of his own family’s experience.

Yisrael Katzover, a senior journalist who covered the IDF for several decades for numerous Israeli newspapers and media channels was interviewed by Chabad many years ago about his many encounters throughout the years with the Lubavitcher Rebbe to receive advice and instructions about his work. One of the stories he told was a fascinating encounter with former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who passed away on Tuesday. “I visited Egypt 11 times and I had meetings with Hosni Mubarak many times during these visits.