MUMBAI - India has overtaken Russia to record the world's third-highest number of
coronavirus infections at nearly 700 000, even as its
hardest-hit state said it will allow hotels to reopen this week.
Health ministry data from the world's second-most populous
country showed more than 23,000 new cases on Monday, down
slightly from Sunday's record increase of almost 25,000. There
have been almost 20,000 deaths in India since the first case was
detected there in January.
India now trails only the United States and Brazil in the
number of Covid-19 cases and it has recorded eight times as many
cases as China, where the virus was first identified in late
2019.
But its death rate per 10,000 people is still a low 0.15,
compared with 3.97 in the United States and 6.65 in the United
Kingdom, according to a Reuters tally. Mainland China stands at
0.03.
Officials said they had reversed a decision to reopen the
Taj Mahal, India's most famous tourist attraction, in the city
of Agra, on Monday, following a rise in new cases in the area.
Some other monuments in and around the capital New Delhi
opened on Monday, albeit with very few visitors. India is
pushing ahead with relaxations to its more than two-month
lockdown amid grim economic forecasts.
New Delhi, along with Maharashtra, home to India's financial
capital Mumbai, and the southern state of Tamil Nadu account for
about 60% of the total coronavirus cases in the country.
Maharashtra - the worst-hit state with nearly 210,000 cases
- said it would let hotels outside containment zones reopen at
33% capacity from Wednesday and issued guidelines for staff and
guests.
India is also seeing an uptake in cases in states such as
Kerala, Karnataka and Assam, which until recently had been
relatively unscathed.
"This is showing up as an urban health challenge," said Dr
Rajib Dasgupta, a professor of community health at the
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, noting it is exposing
weaknesses in the public health system.