Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to citizens to switch off lights across India on Sunday to mark the coronavirus fight is generating a lot more work and some tough challenges for India's power sector workers.

The number of confirmed new coronavirus cases in South Asia neared 6,000 on Saturday, even as authorities in some cities tightened restrictions on movement and warned lockdowns could be extended in a bid to rein in the pandemic.

Thailand will temporarily ban all passenger flights from landing in the country to curb the outbreak of the new coronavirus, the country's aviation agency said on Friday.

New York state has recorded more than 500 coronavirus-related deaths in a single day, bringing the statewide total to nearly 3,000, or about the same number killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday.

Indian rice traders have stopped signing new export contracts amid the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, as labour shortages and logistics disruptions have hampered the delivery of even existing contracts, industry officials said.

Singapore will close schools and most workplaces, except for essential services and key economic sectors, for a month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday, as part of stricter measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Ravi Prasad Gupta, a worker at a pipe plant in Gujarat, for years proudly supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his promise to usher in good days for millions of impoverished labourers.

Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) President John Coates said on Friday he has taken a 20% cut to his consulting fees due to the coronavirus crisis.

The Indian rupee will probably cut some of its losses against the dollar in the next year, according to strategists polled by Reuters, but it's likely to stay weak with other emerging-market currencies until the coronavirus pandemic subsides.

The top official in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic in China, warned residents to strengthen self-protection measures and avoid going out as Beijing preaches vigilance to avoid a resurgence of infections.

It was late on Sunday night when officials in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh received the alert. Federal authorities said they needed to track down more than 1,000 people linked to a large Muslim missionary gathering nearly 2,000 km away in the capital New Delhi.