More than two million cases of the new coronavirus have been officially registered around the world, half of them in Europe, according to a tally compiled by AFP at 1000 GMT Wednesday based on official sources.

Amid fears over the spread of coronavirus, a 25-year-old man was allegedly shot at by another person, following an argument that was triggered by his "coughing" during a game of ludo at Greater Noida, police said on Wednesday.

Southwest monsoon will be normal this year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday in its forecast for the four-month rainfall season in the country.

A 65 year-old man from Chikkaballapur, became the eleventh COVID-19 related fatality in Karnataka, where 17 new positive cases have been confirmed, taking the total number of infections in the state to 277, the health department said on Wednesday.

The railways is set to cancel around 39 lakh tickets booked for journeys between April 15 and May 3 due to the extension of the nationwide lockdown and suspension of passenger trains till the extended period in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, sources told PTI.

About 3,500 jurists, academics, actors, artistes, writers and people from other walks of life have slammed the Uttar Pradesh government and police for filing an FIR against Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of web portal The Wire, and demanded that all criminal proceedings against him be dropped.

A 69-year-old man from Chikkaballapura became the eleventh COVID-19 related fatality in Karnataka taking the toll in the state to 11, state Health Minister B Sriramulu said on Wednesday.

The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 377 while the number of cases in the country climbed to 11,439 on Wednesday, according to the Union Health Ministry.