India records its biggest one-day spike in coronavirus cases as country eases one of the world’s strictest lockdowns
- India recorded 1,553 new cases, taking the total number of infections to 17,265
- Disease experts warn that the country of 1.3bn may not reach peak until June
- Nonetheless, parts of the industrial and agricultural sectors resumed today
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
India today recorded its largest one-day spike in coronavirus cases with 1,553 new infections, as authorities start to ease the world’s largest lockdown.
The hundreds of new cases take the total number of infections to 17,265 in a country which has recorded 543 deaths so far.
Disease experts warn that the peak may not be reached before June in a country of 1.3billion people which has been under lockdown since March 24.
Nonetheless, some migrant workers were allowed to travel to factories and farms as parts of the industrial and agricultural sectors resumed today.
Indian police officers stop motorcyclists at a checkpoint in Allahabad today, enforcing the world’s largest lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus
Medical staff wearing blue protective suits and face masks wheel a patient to a ward at a government-run hospital in Mumbai
The lockdown announced by prime minister Narendra Modi in late March halted all but essential activities, sparking an exodus of migrant workers.
Authorities picked up travellers in a fleet of buses and quarantined many of them in empty schools and other public buildings for 14 days.
Starting today, limited industry and farming were allowed to resume as long as employers could meet social distancing conditions.
Coal plants, oil refineries and and brick kiln manufacturing were among the industries allowed to resume today.
Migrant workers are allowed to travel within states, some of which have populations above 100million.
‘In the event a group of migrants wish to return to their places of work within the state where they are presently located, they would be screened and those who are asymptomatic would be transported to their respective places of work,’ India’s home ministry said in a letter to state governments.
However, surveys in the central Indian state of Maharashtra, the worst-hit by the virus, have suggested that few companies eligible to restart operations can do so because they are required to transport and shelter workers.
Small businesses have re-opened in the rural parts of Uttar Pradesh but police were deployed to ensure people maintained social distancing.
Health workers in protective gear screen a man at a hospital in New Delhi on Friday during the nationwide lockdown
Workers make coffins at the workshop of a funeral services company in Hyderabad today during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown
Even before the pandemic, India’s $2.9 trillion economy was growing at its weakest pace in over a decade.
It is now expected to slow to even zero growth in the fiscal year that began on April 1, private economists say, putting further pressure on jobs.
Much of the country remains under lockdown, with schools and places of worship closed until at least May 3.
India’s airspace is closed to commercial traffic, its passenger rail system is shut and stadiums are also closed.
India is also continuing to ramp up testing, build up stocks of ventilators and personal protective equipment and prepare makeshift isolation wards.
In Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra and home to Asia’s largest slum, city authorities were planning to administer hydroxycloroquine to thousands of slum-dwellers over 14 days.
President Donald Trump has touted the malaria drug to treat Covid-19, though its efficacy against the disease is unproven.
Authorities want to gauge whether the drug will help to slow the spread of the disease in a place where effective social distancing is not possible.
It was unclear how many people would participate in the experiment, or when it would begin.