Deaths near 100K as some countries weigh reopening business

MATT SEDENSKY and JIM MUSTIAN

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus closed in on 100,000 as Christians around the globe marked a Good Friday unlike any other — in front of computer screens instead of in church pews — and some countries tiptoed toward reopening segments of their battered economies.

Public health officials warned people against violating the social distancing rules over Easter and allowing the virus to surge again. Authorities resorted to using roadblocks and other means to discourage travel.

In Italy, officials used helicopters, drones a...