Sample of Karnataka man who died on Tuesday tests positive for coronavirus

Canada PM Justin Trudeau self-isolates as wife is tested for coronavirus

Two more coronavirus cases reported in Kerala, number up to 16 in the state

Coronavirus cases in India rise to 74: Health ministry

Air India cancels flights to Kuwait; curtails services to France, Spain, Italy

CJI holds meeting to discuss possibility of limiting SC's functioning

China says its coronavirus peak over as cases drop to single-digit in Wuhan

Delhi schools, colleges and cinema halls closed till March 31

Advise Indians to stay put wherever they are, says MEA

Will take one-and-a-half to two years for India to develop vaccine: Health ministry

Say no to panic, say yes to precautions, tweets PM Modi

Fifth coronavirus case reported in Karnataka

Will follow whatever the BCCI decides regarding tournament: IPL franchise

India imposes blanket ban on travellers

Those revealing identity of COVID-19 patients to face action

Contact Indian students stranded in Iran: Delhi HC to Centre

Daily international passenger arrivals falls to 62,000

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Kids, Vayu and Corona'

SC refuses urgent hearing on plea to postpone IPL-2020

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Flipkart puts staff under mandatory work from home for 3 days

Petrol, diesel prices cut further on Thursday

Air India announces temporary suspension of services to Rome, Milan, Seoul

Union home secretary's powers delegated to health secretary

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NEW DELHI: India reported its first death due to coronavirus on Thursday as the number of positive cases soared to 74, with authorities taking emergency measures to contain its spread like shutting down schools, colleges and cinema halls in the national capital and some other places.Here are the top developments:A 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi who died on March 10 is India's first coronavirus fatality, with test results on Thursday confirming that he was infected.The man traveled to Saudi Arabia and died when he was being brought from a Hyderabad hospital to Kalaburagi on March 10.His throat swab sample had been received at a Bengaluru lab only on March 11.State health minister B Sriramulu in a tweet said the necessary contact tracing, isolation and other measures as per protocol were being taken.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie are in self-isolation after she came down with flu-like symptoms and was tested for the new coronavirus, according to an official statement on Thursday.The 48-year-old liberal leader is exhibiting no symptoms and will continue to work from home until the results of his wife's test comes in, the statement said.However, face-to-face meetings with provincial premiers scheduled for Thursday and Friday will instead be held by phone.Two more people in Kerala have tested positive for coronavirus, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday. With this, the total number of infected people in the state have gone up to 16."One person is admitted to the Pariyaram Medical college in Kannur and has a travel history from Dubai. The other person is in the isolation ward at Thrissur General Hospital and has travelled to the state from Qatar," Vijayan told reporters.The chief minister said 270 people are under observation in isolation wards at various hospitals across the state.The number of coronavirus patients in the country has risen to 74 with 14 fresh cases, including nine from Maharashtra and one each from Delhi, Ladakh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh as well as one foreign national, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.Giving a state-wise breakup, the ministry said Delhi reported six positive cases and Uttar Pradesh 10. Karnataka has four cases, Maharashtra 11 and Ladakh three.Besides, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have reported one case each. Kerala has recorded 17 cases, including three patients who were discharged last month after they recovered from the infection declared a global pandemic.The total number of 74 confirmed cases includes 17 foreigners -- 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian, the ministry officials said.Air India on Thursday decided to cancel all flights to Kuwait till April 30 and curtail services to various countries, including Spain, France and Sri Lanka.The move comes a day after the national carrier announced temporary suspension of its services to Rome, Milan and Seoul, amid the coronavirus pandemic that has triggered imposition of travel restrictions by various countries.As per the revised flight schedule, Air India would operate only two flights on the Delhi-Madrid route up to April 30, in place of three now.A meeting was held on Thursday evening at the residence of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde to discuss the coronavirus outbreak and the possibility of limiting the Supreme Court's functioning.Besides the CJI, the other judges who attended the meeting were justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit, said lawyer and Supreme Court Bar Association secretary Ashok Arora who also attended the meeting.Arora said the apex court may consider using technology such as video-conferencing to ensure that there is less crowd of lawyers and litigants in the courtrooms.He said it was discussed at the meeting that the top court may also consider not to list fresh and after-notice matters where the chances of lawyers and litigants coming to the courtrooms in large numbers are high.China on Thursday said the peak of the novel coronavirus in the country is over but its success in controlling the deadly disease has become complicated due to a global surge in the COVID-19 cases.In China, new cases keep declining and the overall epidemic situation remains at a low level, Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission, told the media in Beijing.Mi said the number of new confirmed cases in Wuhan, the capital of the worst-hit Hubei province, has dropped to a single digit, with just eight new infections reported on Wednesday. Only seven new cases were reported on the Chinese mainland outside Hubei, but six were imported from overseas.Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejiriwal on Thursday announced that schools and colleges in the national capital where exams are not being held will remain closed till March 31 as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus disease.Kejriwal also said that cinema halls in Delhi will remain shut till March 31 due to coronavirus threat.So far, Delhi has 6 positive cases of coronavirus.The government's focus is on containing and controlling coronavirus, the ministry of external affairs said on Thursday and advised Indians to stay put wherever they are and travel only under compelling reasons.Responding to questions about IPL and other sporting events, it said the MEA's advise would be "not do it at this time but if the organisers want to go ahead, it is their decision"."The government's immediate concern is to contain and control coronavirus. There is no need to panic. We advise Indians to stay put wherever they are and only travel under compelling reasons," Dammu Ravi, Additional Secretary, MEA and Coordinator (COVID-19), said at a press conference.Senior health ministry officials said on Thursday that it will take around one-and-a-half to two years for India to develop a vaccine for novel coronavirus even with expedited clinical trials.Raman R Gangakhedkar, head of the Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases-I (ECD-I), Division of ICMR said the National Institute of Virology in Pune has been successful in isolating the virus."Coronavirus is difficult to isolate. But the efforts of scientists of National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune have been successful and about 11 isolates of coronavirus are available which is a prime requisite for doing any kind of research related to viruses. Even with expedited clinical trials and approvals, it will take around one-and-a-half to two years to develop a vaccine," Gangakhedkar asserted.No minister of the Central government will travel abroad in the upcoming days. I urge our countrymen to also avoid non-essential travel. We can break the chain of spread and ensure safety of all by avoiding large gatherings: PM"The government is fully vigilant about situation due to COVID-19; multiple steps have been taken across ministries and states to ensure safety of all," said the PM.A 26-year-old man who returned from Greece has tested positive for coronavirus, making it the fifth case in Karnataka, the health department said on Thursday.The patient has been admitted and isolated at a hospital and his condition is stable, a department media bulletin said."All (his) primary contacts have been traced and are asymptomatic. Home quarantine has been advised and being followed-up," it said. According to sources, the patient is from Mumbai.Amidst ongoing concerns regarding whether the Indian Premier League (IPL) will go ahead as planned or not, sources within a franchise of the tournament on Thursday said they will abide by whatever the BCCI decides.The Central government has suspended all visas to India till April 15 as part of measures to contain the spread of coronavirus and this has put IPL's scheduling in doubt."It's really a tricky situation right now, I don't know what to say. There is a special IPL governing council meeting on Saturday, then the BCCI will take a call on the tournament, as of now huge investment has been done for the tournament, many states are also saying no to IPL. It's tough situation. What the BCCI decides, we will follow," sources within a franchise told ANI.Earlier in the day, sources within the IPL's governing council had said that the foreign players would not be available for the tournament due to the visa restrictions.All existing visas to India stand suspended till April 15 except those issued for diplomatic, official, UN/international organisations, employment and project purposes. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on March 13 at the port of departure. Visa free travel facility granted to OCI card holder is kept abeyance till April 15. This comes into effect from 1200 GMT on March 13. Any foreign national who intends to travel to India for compelling reason will have to contact the nearest Indian mission.Authorities in Pune have warned of penal action against those who reveal the identity of patients testing positive for coronavirus on social media platforms. Taking cognisance of a complaint from a relative of a Pune-based patient, who tested positive, divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said police have been asked to monitor social media posts and take appropriate action in such matters. The commissioner noted that if the identity of a patient is revealed, the person and his family could face social boycott-like situation. Mhaisekar said the Pune Police's cyber cell is keeping a close watch. Out of the 11 cases in Maharashtra, eight cases are in Pune, two in Mumbai and one in Nagpur.The Delhi High Court directed the Centre on Thursday to ensure that the Indian embassy in Iran gets in touch with the Indian students stranded there in the wake of the outbreak. Justice Navin Chawla told the Centre that it wants a report on that aspect on March 17, the next date of hearing. Hearing a plea moved by parents of the stranded students, the court directed the ministries of home, external affairs, health and aviation to come up with a positive plan for evacuation of the students.The number of international passengers arriving in India has reduced to around 62,000 per day from 70,000 in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in Lok Sabha on Thursday. He said the count might further come down to around 40,000 following government's decision to suspend all tourist visas. There are 30 international airports in the country and on an average, these aerodromes receive about 70,000 international passengers.The Union ministry of health on Thursday released a comic to educate citizens about novel coronavirus in an effort to curb the virus from spreading in the country. The comic 'features a superhero called 'Vayu' who works for public health and environment. while the villain is called 'Corona', a virus which is fast spreading and needs to be controlled.The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to accord urgent hearing on a plea seeking postponement of Indian Premier League (IPL)-2020 amid the coronavirus scare. A vacation bench of justices U U Lalit and Aniruddha Bose told the petitioner that he could mention the matter for urgent listing before the regular bench on March 16 when the apex court will re-open after the Holi break. IPL-2020 is scheduled to start from March 29 in Mumbai. Meanwhile, a top BCCI source told PTI that no foreign player will be available for this year's IPL till April 15 due to visa restrictions imposed by the government. As per the source, a closed-door IPL seems like a real possibility now but even a postponement cannot be ruled out given that 60-odd overseas recruits won't be available to ply their trade, at least in the initial stages of the event.Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday informed that there is no proposal to adjourn Parliament sine die in the wake of coronavirus outbreak in the country.In what is one of the biggest moves to prepare against the steady spread of Covid-19, online retailer Flipkart has made it mandatory for all its staff in Bengaluru, in its largest campus located in an office park in Bellandur, to work from home for three days, starting Wednesday. This campus houses about 8,000-10,000 employees who are working from home as part of the ‘dry-run’ of its day-to-day operations of US retail giant Walmart owned company in the wake of Covid-19.Fuel prices were further reduced on Thursday due to a slump in demand after the coronavirus was declared pandemic. The price of petrol was reduced by 15-16 paise and that of diesel by 12-13 paise across all major cities in the country. Petrol now costs Rs 70.14 per litre in Delhi, Rs 75.84 per litre in Mumbai, Rs 72.83 a litre in Kolkata and Rs 72.86 per litre in Chennai after the price cut. Similarly, diesel costs Rs 62.89 a litre in Delhi, Rs 65.84 a litre in Mumbai, Rs 65.22 a litre in Kolkata and 66.35 per litre in Chennai, according to Indian Oil Corporation website.National carrier Air India on Wednesday night announced temporary suspension of its flight services to Rome, Milan and Seoul. While services to Rome (Italy) are being discontinued from March 15 to March 25, flight operations to Milan (Italy) and Seoul in South Korea will remain suspended between March 14 and March 28, an airline official said.The government on Wednesday announced delegation of powers executed by the Union home secretary under Section 10 of the disaster management Act to the health ministry counterpart. The section talks about monitoring the implementation of the national plan and the plans prepared by the ministries or departments of the central government and gives overarching superintendence power to the officer executing it.