India COVID-19 cases surge as nation enters fourth week of lockdown
Infections up 78% to 16,365 on Sunday, from 9,200 on April 12
New Delhi: India recorded its largest daily spike in coronavirus cases, adding 1,400 new infections to its tally of more than 16,000 amid a nationwide lockdown that’s about to enter its fourth week.
The South Asian nation’s cases have been surging over the last week as it gradually scales up its testing capacity. Confirmed infections are up 78% to 16,365 on Sunday, from 9,200 on April 12, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Infectious diseases experts say the true number of infections is likely much higher given that the Indian Council of Medical research said the country has tested just 372,123 samples from its 1.3 billion citizens. That’s about 0.03%.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week extended the lockdown until May 3, but announced that makers of information technology hardware, farmers and industries in rural areas would be allowed to resume operations from Monday to start to revive stalled economic activity.