India reported another record spike of 95,735 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours as the virus spreads beyond its major cities, Indian government data showed on Thursday.
The country also recorded the highest number of deaths in a day (1,172), taking total fatalities to 75,062. India's death toll is the third-highest in the world behind the U.S. and Brazil. There have been 72,939 recoveries in the last 24 hours, and total recoveries stand at 34,71,783, according to the data.
Per India's Health Ministry, the number of people known to be infected in the country reached 4,465,863 on Thursday. It has the second-highest caseload in the world behind the United States, where more than 6.3 million people are known to be infected.
The ministry said the surge in new infections is due to ramping up of daily testing that exceeds 1 million now. However, experts caution that India's outbreak is entering a more dangerous phase as the virus spreads to smaller towns and villages.
The Indian capital saw a record surge of 4,618 new cases in the past 24 hours with 19 deaths. New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Chennai are the worst-hit cities in the country.
With the economy contracting by a record 23.9 percent in the April-June quarter, leaving millions jobless, Indian authorities said they have little choice but to continue reopening the economy.
Moreover, the Serum Institute of India maintained that the temporary halt to late-stage studies of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine candidate would not impact the timeline for vaccine trials in India. The studies in multiple countries were halted because of "potentially unexplained" illness in a British recipient.
Indian authorities said they would review the illness report and assess the information from the initial human clinical trials in India.
New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Chennai are the worst-hit cities in the country. /AP
Meanwhile, Indonesia's capital Jakarta will reimpose large-scale social restrictions beginning Monday due to a resurgence in coronavirus infections, its governor said on Wednesday.
In early April, Jakarta first imposed the restrictions and then gradually eased them in June as the COVID-19 situation got better. However, the emergence of new cases has recently seen a rapid increase in Jakarta.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the city had no other choice but to implement the "emergency brake" at a virtual press conference "because the fatality rate and bed occupancy rate for new coronavirus patients keep hiking up, bringing the capital into an emergency situation."
"We will be back to the early days of the pandemic, such as working from home, studying from home and performing religious activities at home," he added.
A medic inspects makeshift isolation rooms at Jakarta's Patriot Candrabhaga Stadium that will become a quarantine facility for people showing symptoms of COVID-19. /AP
In Jakarta, which continues to have one of the highest rates of confirmed daily infections, attitudes toward the virus have become more lax. This July, some cafes were crowded and didn't enforce recommended spacing between customers, malls had more people without masks, and travel was becoming easier between parts of the country.
(With inputs from agencies)