LIVE News Updates: Arunachal Pradesh prohibits entry of foreigners 

After Sikkim, now Arunachal Pradesh has prohibited for the time being the entry of foreigners into the northeastern state as a preventive measure against novel coronavirus, officials said on Sunday.

"The Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to temporarily suspend the issuance of Protected Area Permits (PAPs) to foreigners," Arunachal Pradesh State Protocol Officer Sadhana Deori told IANS over phone.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar has directed all authorities concerned not to issue the permits till further orders.

The Italian government has imposed a sweeping quarantine on the Lombardy region and 11 northeastern provinces that are together home to some 16 million people in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus, has so far claimed the lives of 233 people.

Taking effect on Sunday and remain in force through April 3, the measure would prohibit people from entering or leaving the affected areas except in cases of "non-deferrable work reasons" or emergencies, Efe news reported citing a draft of the proposed decree as saying.

Lombardy, with roughly 10 million residents, accounts for more than 20 per cent of Italy's gross domestic product. The regional capital, Milan, is the country's most populous metropolitan area.

The lockdown will also apply to the provinces of Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio, Rimini, Pesaro e Urbino, Venezia, Padova, Treviso, Asti and Alessandria, all located in the northeastern part of the country.

Women members of the Trinamool Congress marched in a rally denouncing the CAA and the NRC in central Kolkata on the occasion of the International Women's Day on Sunday.

During the 2 kilometre-long march, women protesters also demanded food for every family in the country.

Many of the rallyists held empty pots on their heads with 'We don't NRC, we want rice' written on them. They also shouted slogans against the economic policies of the Centre, which they claimed triggered price spiral of essential commodities.

Allahabad High Court passed an interim order effectively staying the directive of the Additional District Magistrate, Bijnor, to recover damages for the destruction of public property on account of Anti-CAA protests from four persons who had approached the High Court.

Allahabad High Court has reserved its judgment in hoardings case. The judgment will be pronounced tomorrow at 2pm.

Hundreds of churches across South Korea closed their doors Sunday and held online services as the country reported its lowest number of new coronavirus cases in more than a week.

South Korea -- which has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases outside China with 7,313 -- added 272 new cases Sunday, far below daily increases of around 500 recently.

Two more people died, bringing the death toll to 50, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Despite the smaller rise in COVID-19 cases, we are not at a point where we can say the situation has improved," said health minister Park Neung-hoo.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday said the Centre would make it mandatory for sanitary napkin companies to provide bio-degradable disposal bags from January next year.

He was speaking at an International Women's Day event in Pune attended by waste collectors, who he referred to as "swachhta sevaks".

"I have observed that despite repeated appeal to sanitary pad manufacturers, they are still not providing bio degradable disposal bags. From January, 2021, the Union government will make such bags mandatory," said the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

He said cleanliness norms in force in municipal areas will now be applicable to villages having a population of more than 3,000.

India’s team for 3-match ODI series against South Africa- S Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (C), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, S Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kr, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP): The Bus in which Italian passengers travelled in Rajasthan, Agra is being disinfected by ITBP at Chhawla camp in Delhi. 14 Italians and 1 Indian (driver) were later found positive for coronairus.

The American Film Institute (AFI) has postponed its 48th annual Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute in celebration of veteran star Julie Andrews in the wake of global coronovirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Hindu temples in Dubai have cancelled the upcoming Holi celebrations and advised against playing with colours to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, it was reported.

This is in addition to other preventive measures such as reduction in prayer times and providing sanitisers as part of preventive measures to protect the devotees and the larger community, the managements of both Shiva and Krishna temples told Gulf News on Saturday.

"The Holi celebrations have been cancelled. We are taking precautionary steps in line with DHA (Dubai Health Authority) instructions," said Gopal Kokani, general manager of the Guru Darbar Sindhi Temple (Shiva temple).

At least six people were killed in China after a multi-storey hotel used as a quarantine centre for coronavirus victims collapsed, the media reported on Sunday.

Thailand and Malaysia have barred a cruise ship carrying about 2,000 people from docking due to fears about the novel coronavirus, an official said here on Sunday.

The Costa Fortuna was first turned away from the popular Thai holiday island of Phuket on Friday, despite there being no suspected virus cases aboard, The Bangkok Post reported citing the operator Costa Cruises as saying.

Thai authorities had imposed restrictions "on Italians that have transited in Italy in the last 14 days", Costa Cruises said on Twitter.

The ship is carrying 64 Italians, according to Malaysian officials.

The Delhi government has ordered DTC and cluster buses, metro and hospitals to be disinfected on a regular basis as a precautionary measure to deal with the novel coronavirus, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said 168 isolation beds had been set up at 25 hospitals for coronavirus patients. He appealed to the people in Delhi if anybody from their neighbourhood had returned from foreign in the past 14 days, they should inform the government.

The chief minister, who chaired a state task force on Sunday, said the government was fully prepared to deal with the novel coronavirus, adding that people do not need to panic.

Mumbai's Special Holiday Court sends Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor to Enforcement Directorate custody till 11th March. He was yesterday arrested by the ED and produced today in the Court.

We are fully prepared. We have procedures to contain this disease. We have 1086 patients under home surveillance, says Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Beela Rajesh.

The Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to temporarily suspend issuing Protected Area Permits (PAPs) to foreigners to check the spread of coronavirus, officials said on Sunday.

Foreigners require PAPs to enter the state that shares a border with China.

Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar directed all PAP issuing authorities to suspend the issue of permits till further orders, they said.

A person has been identified positive with coronavirus In Tamil Nadu and is under surveillance here at a hospital. We are tracing contact history, says Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Beela Rajesh.

ICC Women's T20 world cup final at Melbourne Cricket Ground: Australia wins the toss, opts to bat against India

Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind presents 'Nari Shakti Puruskar' to Bihar's Bina Devi. She is known as ‘Mushroom Mahila’ for popularising mushroom cultivation. She was ‘Sarpanch’ of Dhauri Panchayat, Tetiabamber block for 5 years.

A 32-year-old Paraguayan who arrived from Ecuador is the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in Paraguay, the country's health minister said Saturday.

The patient was in "very good" general health and authorities were monitoring people who had contact with him since he arrived in Asuncion on March 3, Health Minister Julio Mazzoleni told reporters.

In Ecuador there are 14 confirmed cases of people infected with COVID-19 and 122 suspected cases, according to official figures.

The central laboratory of Paraguay's Ministry of Public Health confirmed the COVID-19 case on Saturday afternoon, Mazzoleni tweeted earlier.

"Protocols already tested and approved by the WHO are being applied," he wrote, referring to the World Health Organization.

5 new positive cases of coronavirus have been admitted in the isolation wards here. Three people recently returned from Italy due to which two more got the disease here in Pathanamthitta district, says Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja.

Asserting that her government is committed to the welfare and empowerment of women, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday that they are the pillars of the society.

Recalling the state's welfare schemes such as 'Kanyashree' and 'Rupashree', Banerjee greeted women across the globe on the occasion of the International Women's Day.

"Women are the pillars of our society. They are our pride. On #IWD2020 let me congratulate all my mothers and sisters around the world," she tweeted.

"From Kanyashree to Rupashree, our Govt in #Bangla is committed to the welfare and empowerment of women. Our Govt in #Bangla is financially empowering rural women through self- help groups," Banerjee added.

China on Sunday reported 27 new deaths from coronavirus, the lowest number of fatalities in more than a month, taking the death toll to 3,097, while the COVID-19 infections for the first time fell below 50 since the disease surfaced in Hubei province in January.

All the 27 deaths occurred in the virus-hit central Hubei province, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said.

The confirmed cases for the first time fell below 50 since COVID-19 surfaced in Hubei province in January. Of the 44 new cases reported on Saturday, 41 were in Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland has risen to 80,695 by the end of Saturday. The total number of deaths reached 3,097.

Four people were killed after a hotel used as a quarantine facility for coronavirus suspects collapsed in China. New York Governor declared a state of emergency as confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 76.

Four people were killed after a hotel used as a quarantine facility for coronavirus suspects collapsed in south east China's Fujian province, official media reported on Sunday as authorities pulled out 42 people from the debris.

Around 71 people were trapped in the hotel that collapsed on Saturday in Quanzhou city of the province.

The hotel was used to quarantine and observe people who had come to the province during the novel coronavirus prevention and control and had come in contact with the virus patients.

A person who attended a gathering of top US political conservatives including President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence has tested positive for the new coronavirus, officials said.

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is one of the country's largest annual gatherings of political conservatives, attracting thousands, and in addition to Trump and Pence the February 26-29 event near Washington also featured several cabinet members and top White House officials.

"The exposure occurred previous to the conference. A New Jersey hospital tested the person, and CDC confirmed the positive result," the event's organizer American Conservative Union tweeted on Saturday, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The individual is quarantined and under medical care in New Jersey.

Two people were killed after a hotel used as a quarantine facility for coronavirus suspects collapsed in China's Fujian province, official media reported on Sunday as authorities pulled out 50 people from the debris.

Around 70 people were trapped in the hotel that collapsed on Saturday in Quanzhou city of the province.

The hotel was used to quarantine and observe people who had come to the province during the novel coronavirus prevention and control and had come in contact with the virus patients.

State-run CGTN said two of the 50 people pulled from under the debris died.

Rescuers are still searching for survivors, according to local authorities.

A total of 21,114 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported by 93 countries and regions outside China as of Saturday, an increase of 3,633 infections from the previous day, according to the daily situation report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) Saturday evening.

The number of confirmed cases worldwide has risen by 3,735 to 101,927 on Saturday, according to the report. Outside China, 78 more people died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, bringing the total deaths to 413, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Governor of the US state of New York declared a State of Emergency on Saturday as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the northeastern state rose to 76.

At a press conference, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that New York City, the most populous metropolis in the country, has seen 11 cases, and Westchester County now has 57, an increase of 23 overnight, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Long Island's Nassau County has four, Rockland County has two and Saratoga County has two new cases.

All cases in Westchester County are related to the state's second confirmed case, which involves an attorney who worked in Manhattan.

Hubei Province, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, reported 41 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 27 deaths on Saturday, the provincial health commission said on Sunday.

All the new infections were in Wuhan, the provincial capital and epicenter of the outbreak, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 67,707.

China on Sunday reported its lowest number of new coronavirus infections since January, with nearly all the 44 new cases in the outbreak epicentre Wuhan.

There were 27 new deaths from the virus, all in Wuhan and the lowest in more than a month, bringing the nationwide toll to 3,097, according to the National Health Commission.

Only three cases, all imported from abroad, were reported outside of Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, in Beijing and the northwest province of Gansu.

New infections reported from Hubei have been on a downward trend for several weeks and multiple cities in the province have reported zero new cases in recent days.

Italy’s government plans to place large parts of north in coronavirus lockdown as Italian cases soared past 200 on Saturday. Vatican announced Pope Francis’s Angelus prayer would be livestreamed.