The WHO expert noted that measures taken in India such as the nationwide lockdown have had an impact in slowing transmission but the risk of an increase in cases looms as the country opens up.

The report added that there is no indication that the virus played any role in his death.

People were seen breaking into high end stores around Manhattan's Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue, home to almost all luxury and high-end brands from around the world, and running way with merchandise from the shops. Groups of people also looted pharmacies, electronic stores and other businesses across the city.

The world organisation said UN humanitarians and partners were working hard to assist the people of Bangladesh and India suffering from the impact of the cyclone, which made landfall on Wednesday, wreaking havoc, causing high tidal surges, flooding and embankments to collapse.

On the occasion of International Museum Day Monday, two studies by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the International Council of Museums said that museums have been especially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 90 per cent of them, or more than 85,000 institutions, having closed their doors for varying lengths of time during the crisis.

As the coronavirus outbreak enters its fifth month, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) requested $1.6 billion to support its humanitarian response for children impacted by the pandemic. The health crisis is 'quickly becoming a child rights crisis. And without urgent action, a further 6,000 under-fives could die each day', it said.

Shashank Rai, 30, allegedly sought millions of dollars in forgivable loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act from two different banks by claiming to have 250 employees earning wages when, in fact, no employee worked for his alleged business.

New York has been recording a decline in daily hospitalisations, ICU admissions and fatalities but the mayor said such progress must continue further before officials consider reopening the city.

The state received 1,269 survey responses from 113 hospitals over three days and found that the majority of individuals hospitalised were not working or travelling, predominately located in downstate New York and were predominately minorities, older individuals, non-essential employees and those that were staying at home.

'Every single case is a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a brother, sister or friend'

The academic session will go till June and schools re-open around September for the next session.

As the states showed progress in fighting the deadly contagion, governors Andrew Cuomo and Philip Murphy have begun to offer details on reopening in the months ahead.

The agencies said that both pets had mild respiratory illness and are expected to make a full recovery. COVID19 infections have been reported in very few animals worldwide and mostly in those that had close contact with a person with COVID-19.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said three-day average in number of hospitalised virus patients was also lower for the sixth straight day to 16,428, down from a peak of nearly 19,000.

India should take 'measured approach' with stimulus packages to deal with COVID-19 by limiting interventions to the provision of food, shelter and basic necessities of life for all; forbearance on payments of outstanding loans; and extra provision of working capital including what will be necessary to cover outstanding wages from lockdown period to enterprises.

It said an estimated 42-66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis this year, adding to the estimated 386 million children already in extreme poverty in 2019.

According to the data from the New York City government, an increase of at least 5,695 cases on Sunday put New York City's total number of coronavirus infections at over 1,04,410 as of April 12 and 27,676 hospitalisations. The city's death toll is 6,898.

India's GDP growth for the current fiscal is expected to slow down to 4.8 per cent, a UN report has said, warning that the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to result in significant adverse economic impacts globally. The UN 'Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2020: Towards sustainable economies' said that Covid-19 is having far-reaching economic and social consequences for the region, with strong cross-border spillover effects through trade, tourism and financial linkages.

"Workers and businesses are facing catastrophe, in both developed and developing economies. We have to move fast, decisively, and together. The right, urgent, measures, could make the difference between survival and collapse," ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said on Tuesday. Worldwide, two billion people work in the informal sector (mostly in emerging and developing economies) and are particularly at risk, the report said, adding that the COVID-19 crisis is already affecting tens of millions of informal workers. "In India, Nigeria and Brazil, the number of workers in the informal economy affected by the lockdown and other containment measures is substantial," ILO said.

The state has a total of 138,836 coronavirus cases and as of Tuesday 5,489 people have died, up by 731 from Monday morning.