India has reported a new daily record of nearly 20,000 new infections as several Indian states reimpose partial or full lockdowns to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
India’s health ministry recorded 548,318 COVID-19 cases as of Monday, a jump of nearly 100,000 cases in a week in the world’s fourth worst-hit country after the United States, Brazil and Russia.
The South Asian country’s death toll has reached 16,475, while 321,723 patients have recovered from the disease.
The pandemic is not expected to peak in India for several more weeks and experts say the number of cases could pass one million before the end of July.
The Indian government has been criticised for not conducting enough coronavirus tests that experts say is hiding the true number of cases in the country.
The capital district of the northeastern state of Assam on the Bangladesh border has reimposed a full lockdown until July 12 following a spike in cases.
Another border state, West Bengal, has extended its lockdown until July 31.
However, in India’s worst-affected states – Maharashtra which includes the financial hub of Mumbai, and Delhi, home to the federal capital of New Delhi – most of the lockdown restrictions have been eased.