Indians wearing face masks as prevention against the coronavirus walk past a roadside bookshop in Bengaluru, India, Tuesday, May 26, 2020. For a seventh consecutive day India reported a record single-day jump in new virus cases. India has been easing its lockdown, with domestic flights resuming Monday at a fraction of normal. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
NEW DELHI — India’s coronavirus caseload has surpassed 150,000, with another single-day high of more than 6,000 reported on Wednesday.
The spike comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government prepares a new set of guidelines, with the fourth phase of the two-month-old lockdown across the country set to end on Sunday.
The Health Ministry reported 151,767 cases on Wednesday, a jump of 6,387, with 4,337 deaths – an increase of 170 in the past 24 hours. It said 64,426 people have recovered from the virus.
Most of the cases are concentrated in five of India’s 28 states. An increase has also been reported in some of the country’s poorest eastern states as migrant workers returning to native villages from large cities have begun arriving home on special trains.
India eased lockdown restrictions earlier this month, allowing shops to reopen and manufacturing to resume. Some trains and domestic flights began operating again.
Metro services, schools and colleges, and hotels and restaurants are shuttered nationwide.