The death toll in China's coronavirus rose sharply to 425 with 64 deaths on Monday alone while 3,235 new confirmed cases were reported, taking the number of those infected with the deadly disease to 20,438, Chinese health authorities said on Tuesday. The 64 people who died on Monday were all from the Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus, China's National Health Commission said.

China's civil aviation authority has urged domestic carriers to continue flying international routes, except to countries with travel bans over a virus epidemic, as they weigh cuts in response to demand, state news agency Xinhua said on Tuesday.

The comments of the Civil Aviation Administration of China were reported on Xinhua's account on messaging app Weibo.

A 39-year-old man in Hong Kong who was being treated for the novel coronavirus has died, medical authorities confirmed Tuesday, the first fatality connected to the illness in the financial hub and only the second outside of mainland China. A spokesman for the Hospital Authority said the victim was a resident of Hong Kong who travelled to the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, on January 21 and who returned to the financial hub two days later. But so far only the Philippines and Hong Kong have reported a fatality outside China.

The Air India crew onboard the two special flights that evacuated more than 600 Indians from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan has been sent on a week-long leave, an Air India spokesperson said on Monday.

The two special flights had returned to New Delhi carrying as many as 647 Indians and 7 Maldivians on Saturday and Sunday from Wuhan - a Chinese city of more than 11 million people which has been the epicentre of the new strain of coronavirus.

A total of 64 people were involved in the evacuation operations. These included 30 cabin crew, 8 pilots, 10 commercial staff of Air India and one senior officer from AI CMD Secretariat, the spokesperson said.