NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India reported on Friday its biggest jump in new coronavirus infections in three weeks, with 13,193 cases, while thousands of agents have spread to enforce the use of masks across Mumbai’s financial capital, which is battling a recent outbreak.
The number of confirmed infections is 10.96 million, the second highest after the United States, with more than 156,000 deaths. But actual infections could reach 300 million, a government serological survey showed this month.
In recent days, 75% of new cases in India have been reported in the state of Kerala and Maharashtra in the south, where Mumbai is, a densely populated city of 20 million inhabitants. Both states have already had the highest number of infections reported.
Health experts suggest that the reopening of educational institutes in Kerala and the resumption of suburban train services in Mumbai may be key factors.
After an 11-month break, Mumbai resumed full suburban train services on February 1, which before the pandemic carried an average of 8 million people daily.
The city began to hire delegates to impose the use of masks. Of the nearly 5,000 delegates, about 300 will be deployed on the rail network, city officials said.
The Indians largely gave up masks and social detachment, the Reuters report shows.
“Coronavirus … has not yet left the country,” said the health ministry on Twitter. “We still need to follow the appropriate behavior of COVID. No carelessness until there is a cure.”
Despite the recent rise in infections, the daily count of new cases in India remains well below the mid-September peak of almost 100,000. The test numbers have also dropped to around 800,000 a day, from more than 1 million.
Since the start of its vaccine campaign in mid-January, India has administered nearly 10 million doses, with the aim of covering 300 million people by August.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das and Anuron Kumar Mitra; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)