The total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States have risen to over 330 by midnight Friday with 14 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 213 cases and 11 fatalities as of 4 p.m. Friday (2100 GMT).

Twenty-one people on the Grand Princess cruise ship have tested positive for COVID-19, including 19 crew members and two passengers, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said Friday.

The San Francisco-based cruise ship in connection with the first coronavirus-related death in the U.S. state of California had been ordered to delay its return to the city and was held off the coast. Coronavirus test kits were delivered via helicopters to the cruise ship on Thursday.

A total of 46 people have received the test. Twenty-four of them have tested negative and one inconclusive, Pence said at a press briefing.

There are more than 3,000 people aboard the ship, according to local media reports.

The Grand Princess belongs to the same company that owned the Diamond Princess cruise ship, where more than 700 people tested positive for coronavirus during a mass outbreak on board and were trapped at a port in Japan for weeks last month.

Pence announced a plan to bring the ship to a non-commercial port and have the infected passengers quarantined at a U.S. military base. As to crew members, he said, "we anticipate that they will be quarantined on the ship, (and) they will not need to disembark."

He noted that "everyone on the ship" would be tested, and they would be "quarantined as necessary."

The U.S. state of Indiana on Friday reported the state's first COVID-19 patient who returned from a conference in Boston, Massachusetts, prompting the state's governor to declare a public health emergency.

The patient "has taken responsible steps to stay isolated," Governor Eric J. Holcomb told a press conference.

The male patient had three tests to confirm he was infected with the virus, and is not in the highest risk age category, local media quoted a doctor as saying.

Authorities are working to identify and notify air travelers who were on the patient's flight from Boston and had close contact with the individual.

Also on Friday, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh confirmed there are three new presumptive positive cases among Boston residents, all from a recent conference organized by Biogen, a multinational biotech company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The University of Washington (UW) in the city of Seattle on Friday announced the suspension of all in-person classes for this semester as the COVID-19 outbreak infected more people in the state.

UW, which is the first large U.S. university to take such a measure, said all classes, starting next Monday, will no longer meet in person and instructors will conduct classes and exams online until March 20.

"The last week or so has been difficult as the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has gained a foothold in our region and country," said UW President Ana Mari Cauce.

While the university is transitioning to online classes, its campuses will remain open for those who need campus services, including medical needs, dining services and residence halls.

Meanwhile, UW also announced that one of its employees has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been in self-isolation at home.

The Roosevelt Commons East building on the university's Seattle campus, where the employee was working, has been closed for deep cleaning.

"All occupants of the building who were in close contact with the ill employee have been notified and are asked to stay home for 14 days since their last contact with them," the university said.

Washington state is home to the first U.S. confirmed COVID-19 case, and has reported 13 of the 14 fatalities nationwide.