Coronavirus Updates: April 6, 2020 | As it happened

16 areas added to the list of COVID-19 containment zones in Kolkata. The total number of containment zones in the city is now at 334.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) headquarters reopened today after having remained off bound since last Saturday, following a driver testing positive for COVID19. During the period, the entire HQ building was duly fumigated as per the existing sanitization protocols.

Two more cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Ranchi, taking the total number of cases to 127 in Jharkhand out of which 37 patients have recovered.

Shops will remain open from 7 am to 3 pm in Punjab. District authorities shall ensure that there is no overcrowding and social distancing is maintained as already advised.

17 new COVID-19 positive cases reported in Nepal today, the highest spike in the number of cases in a day in Nepal. The total number of positive cases stands at 99.

112 COVID-19 positive cases reported today in West Bengal, taking the total cases in the state to 1456. 4 deaths also reported in the last 24 hours, total deaths due to coronavirus in the state now at 72

Two terrorists have been killed by security forces in an operation in Pulwama's Beighpora. This makes four terrorists killed by us in 24 hours. The names of the terrorists are not being released. Weapons have been recovered.

19 more COVID-19 cases reported in Karnataka from 5 pm yesterday till 12 pm today. Total number of positive cases in the state is now at 692, including 345 discharges & 29 deaths

No new positive case has been reported in Uttarakhand today till 2 pm. The total number of positive cases of COVID-19 stands at 61 with only 1 death. Active cases remain 21 in the state

7 new positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Haryana today. Total number of positive cases rise to 555 in the state. Death toll stands at 6

• The Obamas lead star-studded graduation ceremony for rising seniors and graduates affected by the pandemic
• Turkish sheep embrace the lockdown
• North Americans embrace Korean baseball amidst the live sports drought

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan is giving an update on the coronavirus situation in the country. 

After 35 fresh cases of coronavirus were reported in Rajasthan, the total number of cases in the state surged to 3193 on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Jaipur had the highest number of COVID-19 cases in 1069 confirmed infections.

DCW Chief Swati Maliwal is talking exclusively to India Tv on the incident of Boislocker Room that has left the nation in shock. Maliwal said that telling girls to stay extra careful or asking them not to move out of the house after dark is not the solution to this problem. 

Coronavirus cases in India have crossed 49,000-mark taking active cases tally to 49,391 including 1694 deaths while 14183 have recovered, according to health ministry's figures released on Wednesday. On Tuesday, coronavirus cases in India climbed to 46,711. READ MORE 

Strict social distancing measures were relaxed starting Wednesday in South Korea. The country also reported no new local infections for the third day in a row.

• Brazil reports 600 new deaths
• 15 children in New York diagnosed with "multisystem inflammatory syndrome" possibly tied to COVID-19
• Trudeau announces $252 million aid package for agriculture and food industries
• UK begins contact-tracing app
• Tokyo governor asks businesses to remain closed for the rest of the month
• India begins to ease lockdown
• Russia reports over 10,000 new cases of coronavirus for third consecutive day

Human trials for experimental vaccine begin in the US. Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech confirmed the start of human trials for a potential coronavirus vaccine. If successful, the vaccine could be in "emergency use" starting in September

Hello and welcome to today's live coverage of coronavirus news in India and across the world, with me, Sushmita Panda and my colleagues Himanshu Shekhar, Shashwat Bhandari, Vani Mehrotra, Priya Jaiswal, Sidhant Mamtany and Rashi Hardaha. You can get in touch with us directly on Twitter ​@sushmitapanda, @himaanshus, @ShashBhandari​ @vani_mehrotra​ @priyajais @smamtany and @rashihardaha for news, tips, photos, questions and comments.

Here's a quick overview: 

The total number of global cases has surpassed 3.7 million, including more than 258,000 fatalities. More than 1,241,000 patients are reported to have recovered.

Deaths by country:

United States- 72,271
Italy- 29,315
Spain- 25,613
France- 25, 531
United Kingdom- 29,427
Belgium - 8,016

Coronavirus in India: Total COVID-19 positive cases near 49,000-mark
Coronavirus Death Toll in India: As of Saturday evening, the death toll stood at 1,693