NEW DELHI: India reported 40,953 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the biggest daily jump in nearly four months, with its richest state and economic backbone Maharashtra accounting for more than half the infections.
Deaths rose by 188 to 159,404, the health ministry reported, underscoring a resurgence of the virus in the world’s third worst affected country, after the United States and Brazil.
Some regions in India have already reimposed containment measures, including lockdowns and restaurant closures, and more are being considered.
Doctors have blamed the fresh infection wave on people’s relaxed attitude to mask-wearing and other social distancing measures, warning that hospital wards were swiftly filling up in states like Maharashtra.
Maharashtra reported a record 25,681 cases, including 3,000 in the financial capital of Mumbai, over the past 24 hours.
The state of 112 million people has imposed a lockdown in some districts and put curbs on cinemas, hotels and restaurants until the end of the month. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray warned that a wider lockdown is an option, according to local media.
The rise in India’s COVID-19 cases peaked at nearly 100,000 a day in September, and had been falling steadily until late last month.
In addition to Maharashtra, the Indian states of Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh all reported a surge in new cases.
The capital, New Delhi, has reported a steady rise in infections over the last two weeks, prompting city authorities to scale up an immunization drive to 125,000 doses per day, from about 40,000.
Many Indians have started questioning the government’s highly publicized vaccine exports campaign when only a fraction of the country’s 1.35 billion people have been inoculated.
The government has announced plans to inoculate 300 million people, or a fifth of the population, by August. Yet only 42 million have been vaccinated so far, while the world’s biggest vaccine maker has gifted or exported almost 60 million doses.
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India coronavirus cases surge to four-month high, some lockdowns return
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India coronavirus cases surge to four-month high, some lockdowns return
- Some regions in India have already reimposed containment measures
- Many Indians have started questioning the government’s highly publicized vaccine exports campaign
Explosion at US embassy in Oslo, no injuries: police
OSLO, Norway: Norwegian police reported on Sunday an explosion at the US embassy in the capital Oslo, but said there were no casualties.
The explosion occurred around 1:00 am local time (0000 GMT), the Oslo police department said in a statement, adding they did not know the cause of the blast.
Public broadcaster NRK quoted police incident commander Michael Dellemyr saying the blast hit the entrance of the embassy’s consular section.
“At around 1:00 am we received several reports of an explosion. We arrived shortly afterward and confirmed that there had been an explosion that hit the US embassy,” he told NRK.
“There is minor damage,” he said.
“We are not going to comment on anything related to the type of damage, what it is that has exploded and similar details, beyond the fact that there has been an explosion” because “it is very early in the investigation,” he said.
The police statement said investigators were in contact with the embassy about the incident and there was a huge police deployment on site.
Residents near the embassy said they heard a loud blast.
A 16-year-old identified only as Edvard told TV2 that he was watching television when he heard the blast.
“My mother and I first thought it came from our house so we looked around a little, but then we saw the flashing lights outside the window and a ton of police,” he said.
“There were police dogs and drones and police with automatic weapons and helicopters in the air,” he said.
US embassies have been placed on high alert in the Middle East over American military operations in Iran and several have faced attacks as Tehran hits back at industrial and diplomatic targets.
But police gave no indication the incident near the embassy in Oslo was connected to the conflict.
The explosion occurred around 1:00 am local time (0000 GMT), the Oslo police department said in a statement, adding they did not know the cause of the blast.
Public broadcaster NRK quoted police incident commander Michael Dellemyr saying the blast hit the entrance of the embassy’s consular section.
“At around 1:00 am we received several reports of an explosion. We arrived shortly afterward and confirmed that there had been an explosion that hit the US embassy,” he told NRK.
“There is minor damage,” he said.
“We are not going to comment on anything related to the type of damage, what it is that has exploded and similar details, beyond the fact that there has been an explosion” because “it is very early in the investigation,” he said.
The police statement said investigators were in contact with the embassy about the incident and there was a huge police deployment on site.
Residents near the embassy said they heard a loud blast.
A 16-year-old identified only as Edvard told TV2 that he was watching television when he heard the blast.
“My mother and I first thought it came from our house so we looked around a little, but then we saw the flashing lights outside the window and a ton of police,” he said.
“There were police dogs and drones and police with automatic weapons and helicopters in the air,” he said.
US embassies have been placed on high alert in the Middle East over American military operations in Iran and several have faced attacks as Tehran hits back at industrial and diplomatic targets.
But police gave no indication the incident near the embassy in Oslo was connected to the conflict.
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