NEW DELHI (AP) — India recorded its biggest single-day surge of coronavirus cases Monday in a surge largely attributed to the exodus of migrant workers returning home after losing their jobs in India’s population centers.
The 5,242 new cases and 157 deaths due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours took the country’s infection tally to more than 96,000, the most in Asia. The country has now 3,029 fatalities due to COVID-19.
On Sunday, the federal government extended a nationwide lockdown to May 31 but eased some restrictions to restore economic activity and gave states more control in deciding the nature of the lockdown.
Authorities are largely attributing the recent surge in the number of infections to the return of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to India’s villages, which have weaker health infrastructure.
India had eased its lockdown rules May 4 and allowed migrant workers to travel back to their homes, a decision that has resulted in millions of people being on the move for the last two weeks. Rail service resumed, with a limited number of trains running.
All passenger flights are grounded, and metro services, schools, hotels and restaurants remain shuttered nationwide.
Most of the infections reported in India are from its major cities. Mumbai, the financial capital and home to the Bollywood, alone registers almost 20% of the total cases.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
— PETITION OFFICES CLOSED: The central government petition offices in Beijing, where people come from across China to register complaints, will remain closed for the time being as a virus-control measure, state media reported Monday. As its cases have declined, China has moved to restart schools and reopen businesses and industries. But government offices that tend to attract large numbers of people in restricted spaces have largely remained closed. Xinhua News Agency noted complaints could be submitted online. China reported seven new virus cases, four of them Chinese returning from abroad and three locally spread. China has reported a total of 4,634 deaths among 82,954 cases of the virus since it was first detected late last year.
— PHILIPPINE TRAFFIC RETURNS: Crowds and vehicular traffic surged back to shopping malls in the Philippine capital after a two-month coronavirus lockdown was eased. Police warned of possible arrests and mall closures if crowds weren’t regulated. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the quarantine in the main northern Luzon region was slowly being eased to revitalize the economy “and not because we are safe.” Roque warned against public complacency. The Philippines has counted more than 12,500 infections and 824 deaths. It has only been able to do about a third of a daily target of 30,000 coronavirus tests so far. Only metropolitan Manila and two other high-risk areas remain under a strict lockdown, and fitness gyms, barber shops, movie houses and other recreation hubs remain shut under the eased guidelines.
— SEOUL DOWN TO 2 CASES: South Korea reported 15 fresh cases of the new coronavirus and one more death, bringing its totals to 11,065 cases and 263 fatalities. South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday said it believed 10 of the new cases were linked to passengers arriving from abroad. Only two new cases were reported from the Seoul metropolitan area, where tens of thousands were tested in recent weeks after health officials discovered dozens of infections linked to clubgoers. Officials have expressed hope that the transmissions are waning and plan move ahead with a phased reopening of schools, starting with high-school seniors on Wednesday.