Coronavirus cases in India jump to almost 53,000, death toll nears 1,800

The number of coronavirus infections rose to 52,952 in India, up by 3,561 over the previous day, the health ministry said on Thursday, with no signs of abating despite a strict weeks-long lockdown in the world’s second most populous country.

The death toll was up by 89 to 1783, still low compared with the United States, United Kingdom and Italy which officials said was because the government imposed the stay-at-home order on 1.3 billion people much earlier in the cycle.

The spurt in cases has come from the densely packed metropolises of Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad which are also the growth engines of the economy.