MUMBAI (Reuters) – India on Saturday reported a record daily jump in coronavirus infections, bringing the total to close to 3 million and putting pressure on authorities to restrict large gatherings when a major religious festival began.
The 69,878 new infections – the fourth straight day above 60,000 – take the total cases of India to 2.98 million, behind only the United States and Brazil. COVID-19 deaths increased by 945 to 55,794, data from the Federal Ministry of Health showed.
For most of western India, especially the financial capital Mumbai, the 11-day festival of Hindu elephant chief god Ganesh is mostly celebrated with large public gatherings.
Fallen are plagued in Mumbai, which now averages just over 1,000 a day and has totaled more than 134,000 in total. But strict pandemic regulations have meant that the festival season, which begins this month, has been unsatisfactory.
Report by Rajendra Jadhav; Edited by William Mallard
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