Coronavirus cases in India increase to a maximum of four months; some locks return

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India reported 40,953 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, the biggest daily jump in nearly four months, with Maharashtra’s richest state and economic backbone accounting for more than half of infections .

Deaths rose in 188 to 159,404, the health ministry said, highlighting a resurgence of the virus in the world’s third most affected country, after the United States and Brazil.

Some regions of India have already reimposed containment measures, including restaurant closures and closures, and more are being considered.

Doctors have blamed the new wave of infection on people’s relaxed attitude towards the use of masks and other measures of social distancing, and have warned that hospital wards are filling up quickly in states like Maharashtra .

Maharashtra reported a record 25,681 cases, including 3,000 in the financial capital of Mumbai, over the past 24 hours.

The state of 112 million people has imposed a closure in some districts and put a brake on cinemas, hotels and restaurants until the end of the month. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray warned that a wider closure is an option, according to local media.

The rise in COVID-19 cases in India peaked at almost 100,000 daily in September and had been steadily falling until late last month.

In addition to Maharashtra, the Indian states of Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh reported an increase in new cases.

The capital, New Delhi, has reported a steady increase in infections over the past two weeks, prompting city authorities to increase vaccination work to 125,000 doses a day, from about 40,000.

Many Indians have begun to question the government’s widespread vaccine export campaign, when only a fraction of the country’s 1.35 billion people have been inoculated.

The government has announced plans to inoculate 300 million people, or a fifth of the population, by August. However, so far only 42 million have been vaccinated, while the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer has given away or exported nearly 60 million doses.