NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd June, 2020) India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday reported 14,821 new cases of coronavirus infection, in line with the record-setting number of daily cases registered over the past four days.
This brings the country's total to 425,282 confirmed cases with some 237,000 recoveries, putting India above previous hotspots such as Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom in terms of total infections.
An additional 445 fatalities since the last update has taken the COVID-19 death toll to 13,669.
According to the ministry's numbers, the central state of Maharashtra, where the city of Mumbai is located, is the epicenter of the subcontinent accounting for 132,000 of the confirmed cases and 6,170 deaths. The capital state of Delhi and the southern state of Tamil Nadu share second and third places in infection rates with 59,000 cases each.
Despite this, the government has begun lifting restrictions in some parts of the country with low infection rates earlier this month, allowing places of worship, shopping centers and restaurants to open in a first phase. Lockdowns are still in places in regions deemed "red zones" where the infection rates are still high at least until June 30.
In a briefing last week, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Gerbreyesus said that worldwide infections are accelerating, with southern Asia and the Americas accounting for a bulk of the new cases.
