Indian coronavirus cases hit record high amid monsoon rains

India recorded its highest singe-day spike of coronavirus cases on Saturday, with over 22,000 people testing positive and 442 deaths, as infections rose in the western and southern parts of the country amid heavy monsoon rains, according to the Union Health Ministry in India.

The western state of Maharashtra, home to the densely packed financial capital Mumbai, has the country's highest total, recording 6,364 fresh cases of the virus on Saturday and 198 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Following the U.S., Brazil and Russia, India has the fourth-most confirmed cases in the world, exceeding 640,000 on Saturday, according to health ministry data.

A health worker in personal protective equipment puts a swab sample into a vial at a school which was turned into a center to conduct tests for the coronavirus, July 4, 2020. /Reuters

In the second worst-hit state in India, the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the number of cases crossed 100,000.

India had imposed one of the world's harshest lockdown restrictions in March to control the virus spread, but it has been eased in phases in recent weeks to restart economic activity. Epidemiologists warn India's peak could still be weeks or months away, suggesting the country's already severely overburdened healthcare system will come under further stress.

Officials in Mumbai warned residents to stay away from the coast, as heavy rains were predicted for the next 48 hours. The monsoons typically cause waterlogging in many parts of the city and could scuttle coronavirus containment efforts by causing a further rise in infection numbers, experts say.

A health worker checks the temperature and pulse of a resident, July 4, 2020. /Reuters

At least 31 people died in lightning strikes in Bihar, in northeast India, and Uttar Pradesh, in north India, on Thursday, while the flood in Assam, claimed one more life and inundated crop fields, even as Mumbai braced for extremely heavy rainfall.

On June 30, 11 people were killed by lightning strikes in five districts, while 83 such deaths were reported across the country on June 25.

Monsoon delivers around 70 percent of the country's annual rainfall and also is the lifeblood of its economy.

This year in June, the country saw 18 percent more rainfall than average as the monsoon covered the whole country two weeks earlier than usual, according to the state-run weather office quoted by Reuters.

(With input from agencies)