Indian Council of Medical Research said on Friday the number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases has risen to 206 in the country.

It said a total of 14,376 samples from 13,486 individuals, including suspected cases and their contacts, were tested for COVID19 and 206 of them have tested positive as on March 20.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday addressed the nation and requested citizens to stay at home.
Modi urged India’s 1.3 billion people to put themselves under self-curfew to protect themselves from the coronavirus, hours after the government announced it was barring all international flights from landing in the country for a week starting March 22.

The virus, which originated from China, has rapidly spread to about 160 countries, hurting economic activity, global markets and forcing countries to go for lockdowns.

Until now (Friday noon) India has reported five coronavirus deaths, one of them an elderly Italian tourist.

The global death toll has risen to 10,048, with Italy surpassing China in the number of Covid-19 deaths on Friday.

Stocks are suffering badly across the board as investors fear the magnitude of damage coronavirus will cause from a global slowdown in travel, shopping and other consumer spending.