Coronavirus updates: Italy reports 627 new deaths, toll at 4,032

Man with recent travel history to UK tests positive for new coronavirus in West Bengal, a government official said on Friday, reports PTI.

This is the second confirmed case in state

The wholesale fruits and vegetable market in Pune's Gultekdi has been shut down, due to coronavirus: ANI

Maharashtra: Wholesale fruits and vegetable market in #Pune's Gultekdi closed, due to #CoronaVirus pic.twitter.com/z1bQuYrY9m

— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2020

Asian stock markets were mostly higher Friday after modest Wall Street gains on hopes government and central bank action can shield the world economy from a looming global recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, reports news agency AP.

Benchmarks in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Australia and Southeast Asia advanced. Tokyo was closed for a public holiday. Oil gained again after U.S. benchmark crude soared 23% on Thursday for its biggest one-day gain on record.

The number of coronavirus deaths in the United States has gone up to 200, reports Reuters. The US State Department has told citizens that their travel plans may be 'severely disrupted' in they travel internationally and they 'may be forced to remain outside of the United States for an indefinite timeframe'.

As authorities ramped up measures to keep the virus from spreading, Washington could announce restrictions on travel across the U.S.-Mexico border as soon as Friday, limiting crossings to essential travel, two officials briefed on the matter said. That would follow a similar measure on Wednesday closing the border with Canada.

The number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 195, according to health ministry figures. These include 171 active cases and four deaths.

President Donald Trump complained that the coronavirus outbreak “could have been stopped” in China, further escalating his dispute with Beijing as criticism mounts over his own effort to stem the disease’s expansion across the U.S., reports news agency Bloomberg.

Trump aired his assessment at a news conference Thursday to discuss national outbreak-control efforts. The president again characterized the pathogen that causes Covid-19 as a “Chinese virus,” with the term “corona” crossed out with a marker in his prepared remarks and replaced with “Chinese.”

“If people would have known about it, it could have been stopped in place,” Trump said. “It could have been stopped right where it came from, China, if we would have known about it, if they would have known about it. But now the whole world, almost, is inflicted with this horrible virus.”

The Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy in Uttarakhand has been put under lock-down after two India Forest Service (IFS) trainees were found COVID19 positive, says Amita Upreti, Director General of Uttarakhand Health Department: ANI

A plane carrying the Olympic torch from Greece arrived on Friday on Japan's northwestern coast but the welcome ceremony will have no spectators, amid worries the Games could be cancelled over the coronavirus pandemic.

The flame arrived at Japan Air Self-Defence Force's Matsushima base and will tour the Tohoku region hit by the tsunami and earthquake, in what the organizers call a "recovery flame" tour until the official kick-off ceremony in Fukushima on March 26, reports Reuters.

Organisers have repeatedly said the Games, set to run from July 24 to Aug. 9, will go ahead, but as the rapid spread of the virus brings the sports world to a virtual standstill, fears are growing that the Olympics may be postponed or cancelled.

Luxury automaker Jaguar Land Rover said late on Thursday it would temporarily suspend production at its UK manufacturing facilities from next week to curb the coronavirus' spread.

The carmaker said it intends to resume production at the facilities in the week of April 20.

The pandemic has so far killed 144 and infected 3,269 people in Britain.

Jaguar Land Rover's manufacturing plants in Brazil and India are continuing their operations, the company said in an emailed statement.

The Tata Motors-owned carmaker said on Wednesday it would suspend production at its Slovakia-based Nitra plant from Friday due to the pandemic.

Tesla Inc will suspend production in its San Francisco Bay Area vehicle factory on March 24, ending a standoff with local California authorities concerned about the spread of the coronavirus, reports Reuters.

The company on Thursday said its New York solar roof tile factory will also temporarily suspend production, while operations at its Nevada battery plant will continue.

"Despite taking all known health precautions, continued operations in certain locations has caused challenges for our employees, their families and our suppliers," the company said in a statement.

California's governor on Thursday issued a statewide "stay at home" order to residents, telling them to leave their homes only when necessary during the coronavirus pandemic

The mayor of Los Angeles on Thursday ordered all residents of America's second largest city to stay inside their homes to "immediately limit all nonessential movement" in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We're taking this urgent action to limit the spread of COVID-19 and save lives," Mayor Eric Garcetti said at an afternoon news conference.

China on Friday reported no new local cases of the deadly coronavirus for a second straight day, but its progress against the disease was confronted by another increase in imported infections.

The country's drop in cases offers a ray of hope for the rest of the world as a slew of other nations go into lockdown in an effort to emulate China's tactic against the disease.