Economic environment in aviation sector has deteriorated significantly and it has become necessary to initiate some tough decisions over the next few days and weeks, said IndiGo's flight operations chief Ashim Mitra to pilots in an email on Thursday morning.

Railways on Thursday cancelled 84 more trains, which will not operate between March 20 and March 31 in view of coronavirus and low occupancy, officials said.

 Equity benchmark Sensex plummeted over 2,100 points and the Nifty gave up the 7,900 level in opening session on Thursday as global gloom over the Covid-19 pandemic continued to hammer equities.

The novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 169 on Thursday after 18 fresh cases were reported from various parts of the country, according to the Health Ministry.

Italy on Wednesday reported 475 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, the highest one-day official toll of any nation since the first case was detected in China late last year.

 For the first time after the deadly coronavirus broke out about three months ago in Wuhan, China on Thursday said that no new domestic cases of the COVID-19 were confirmed, including in the virus' epicentre, even as eight more fatalities have been reported, taking the death toll in the country to 3,245.

The Delhi government has called a meeting on March 26 to discuss measures that can be taken if need arises to keep schools closed after March 31 in view of coronavirus outbreak.

Two women, one each from Pune and Mumbai, tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, taking the number of such cases in the state to 43, officials said.