Second virus surge grips India on first anniversary of lockdown

India`s richest state, Maharashtra, reported 30,535 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, which could send the country`s overall cases to a multi-month high when national data is released later on Monday.

A year ago, India had observed what Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a people`s curfew, marking the start of a nationwide lockdown in a bid to contain the virus. With 11.6 million cases, India is now the worst-affected country after the United States and Brazil.

Maharashtra, India`s most industrialised state and home to its financial capital Mumbai, has been accounting for more than 60% of the country`s total cases after a full-scale reopening of its economy unleashed a second wave of infections late last month.

The state recorded 99 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, a case fatality rate of 2.15%, which is higher than the national figure of around 1.5%.