COVID-19: India reports six-month high of daily infections

India hit by second wave of coronavirus as it reports 81,466 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, the highest daily number in six months.

This was revealed by Health ministry, it’s data showed the total number of cases surged to 12.3 million, making India the third-most hit country from the virus after the United States and Brazil. The number of those dead rose by 469 to 163,396.

Maharashtra, the western state that has been worst-hit from COVID-19 so far, reported as many as 43,183 new cases on Friday, being the highest recorded since the pandemic spread to India in March 2020.

Officials in the state imposed a night curfew over the weekend but are considering stricter control measures, including shutting down religious places and restricting train travel.

India imposed one of the world’s harshest lockdowns to control the coronavirus early last year, but it was eased to salvage the economy, and cases gradually fell later in the year.

The new surge this year presents a challenge to the government, which already struggled to implement last year’s lockdown.

As of Friday, infection went up in  states of Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

MTO/Reuters