Coronavirus live updates: WHO says Wuhan market had role in coronavirus outbreak, but more research needed

Asmany as 75 personnel of the 94-strong company of BSF’s 126 battalion which was deployed in Jama Masjid area have tested positive for Covid-19. This update came even as BSF reported the death of two of its Covid-positive personnel in the city and CISF said a head constable had died in Mumbai.

Seventy-seven undertrials at Arthur Road jail and 26 jail officials tested positive for Covid-19, a medical report has stated. With media reports about inmates contracting the virus, several of their kin called up lawyers, seeking to bail them out. The home department has separated all those infected and will shift them to hospitals.

Indian students and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) who had booked seats on Air India flights to US and Singapore were in for a rude shock on Thursday. The two countries have since changed their visa rules to disallow entry of these two categories of passengers. AI officials said students and OCI-holders who turn up at Indian airports would not be allowed to board.

The research is based on prediction modelling and covers 47 countries with a total population of one billion, the WHO said in a statement. Experts have consistently warned that Africa is particularly vulnerable to an outbreak, due to weak health infrastructure, high rates of poverty, numerous roiling conflicts and a proven susceptibility to previous epidemics.

The health ministry says there were 274 deaths in the 24-hour period ending Thursday evening, raising to 29,958 the number of people who have died with diagnosed Covid-19 infections. Italy registered 1,401 new cases, increasing the country's overall count of confirmed Covid-19 cases to 215,858.