WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (R) speaks at a daily briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 5, 2020. Photo:Xinhua

More than 100,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease have been reported globally as of Saturday morning, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic told Xinhua. 

Among those 101,827 confirmed infections before 6 a.m. CET (0500 GMT) Saturday, 3,484 patients have died, he said. 

Further updated figures will be available in WHO's daily situation report on COVID-19 on Saturday evening. 

At a daily briefing Friday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization continues to recommend all countries to make COVID-19 containment their highest priority, as the number of cases is increasing worldwide. 

Tedros called for efforts to slow down the epidemic to save lives and buy time for preparedness and for research and development, noting that "every day we can slow down the epidemic is another day hospitals can prepare themselves for cases."