India sees record 15,000 daily coronavirus cases with infections soaring in remote villages after migrant workers fled hard-hit cities
- India had 15,413 new coronavirus cases Sunday, the largest daily increase so far
- Monday brought further 14,821 bringing total Covid-19 infections to 425,282
- India reported 445 new deaths today bringing its total death toll to 13,699
- Indian government ran trains to return thousands of workers to native villages
- Nearly 90 per cent of India's poorest districts now have coronavirus cases
Sunday's rise was the largest daily increase in cases reported in India so far.
There were 445 new deaths from the disease today, bringing its total death toll to 13,699, India's health ministry reported. A total of 306 new deaths were reported yesterday.
The Indian government has run special trains to return thousands of migrant workers to their native villages in recent weeks.
India's coronavirus caseload skyrocketed by a record 15,000 yesterday as migrant workers left major cities and returned to rural villages
India reported 445 new deaths from coronavirus today. The largest increase came on June 17 where 2,003 deaths were reported. The spike was due to the total deaths being revised because of unspecified accounting 'discrepancies'. It was not immediately clear how many of the deaths occurred that day and how many were from adjustments over a longer period
India's coronavirus caseload skyrocketed by 15,000 yesterday as migrant workers left major cities returned to rural villages. Pictured: Worshippers attend a drive-in mass in Bengaluru, India
Nearly 90 per cent of India's poorest districts have coronavirus cases, though the outbreak remains centred in Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu states.
These states are home to some of India's major cities including New Delhi and Mumbai.
Infections slowed in China and South Korea, suggesting they are making headway in stemming their newest outbreaks.
Globally, the number of new virus cases has soared in recent days and in Brazil, Iraq, India and the United States, hospitals are scrambling to cope.
Nearly 9 million people have been infected by coronavirus and more than 468,000 people have died, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Experts say the actual numbers are much higher, given limits to testing and the presumed large share of asymptomatic cases.
In a grim reminder of the pandemic's ubiquitous reach, Philippine officials said Saudi Arabia's king had asked that the remains of 282 Filipino workers who perished in recent months in the oil-rich kingdom be repatriated within three days.
They died of varied causes, but virus restrictions have delayed the repatriations.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the Philippine government asked that a deadline be extended and that the bodies of about 50 Filipinos who died of COVID-19 be buried in Saudi Arabia.
The Philippines has reported more than 30,000 infections and 1,169 deaths, among the highest in southeast Asia, and is struggling to help bring home tens of thousands of Filipinos who have lost their work abroad.
The Indian government has run special trains to return thousands of migrant workers to their native villages in recent weeks. Pictured: Devotees perform socially-distanced rituals during a solar eclipse in Prayagraj, India
In Pakistan, infections are accelerating and hospitals have been forced to turn away patients, with the number of new daily cases as high as 6,800 a day in mid-June.
The government has relaxed pandemic restrictions, seeking to salvage a near-collapsed economy as the number of people living in poverty has risen to 40 per cent, up from 30 per cent of the population of 220 million people.
In Iraq, masked workers were setting up makeshift coronavirus wards in Baghdad's vast exhibition grounds as a long-dreaded spike in infections strained its overstretched hospitals.
Late on Sunday, the World Health Organization reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases by its count, at more than 183,000 new cases in the More than two-thirds of the new deaths were reported in the Americas.
Still, in east Asia there were signs of progress, as South Korea reported 17 new cases, the first time its daily increase fell to under 20 in nearly a month.
A rise in cases among people arriving from south Asia prompted a halt to new visas for travellers from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Elsewhere in Asia, Beijing´s increase was in single digits for the first time in eight days. It reported nine cases.
But Australia's Victoria state reported 16 new cases of the coronavirus as it tries to bring an outbreak there under control.
The number of cases there is the highest in two months, accounting for more than 80 per cent of Australia's new cases over the past week.
In the United States, experts say the resurgence in infections there is not a so-called 'second wave' but a continuation of the first wave of outbreaks as the number of cases plateaus.
New cases are dipping in some parts of the country while rising mainly in the south, west and midwest, swamping hospitals in some areas.
In Pakistan, unmasked daily wage workers were seen waiting to be hired by customers in Rawalpindi, Pakistan this month
The coronavirus has killed about 120,000 people nationwide.
More than 30,000 cases were reported on Friday and Saturday, with the daily totals their highest since May 1.
In New York City, the worst affected area so far, efforts to stop the pandemic's spread through contact tracing are being hampered by the reluctance of many people to provide information to tracers.
The New York Times reported only 35 per cent of the 5,347 city residents who tested positive or were presumed positive for Covid-19 in the first two weeks of the contact tracing program gave information about their close contacts.
But Dr. Ted Long, head of New York City'ss new Test and Trace Corps, defended the program, saying 69% of the people who complete an interview provide contacts.
The city will hit a turning point Monday: allowing New Yorkers to dine out for the first time in three months, though only at outdoor tables.
Shops and hair dressers are open - as are children's playgrounds.
Office workers will be allowed to resume their commutes, though many won't yet.
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