India imposes restrictions in several states as COVID-19 cases rise

MUMBAI: India has slapped restrictions in several states after the country reported 159,632 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday.

India’s richest state, Maharashtra, said it would close swimming pools and gyms from Monday, while schools and colleges have been closed till Feb 15 after daily cases in the state, jumped to over 41,000.

The state government has said only fully vaccinated people will be allowed into private offices while limiting the capacity to 50% of the total workforce.

In the neighbouring state of Gujarat, authorities have extended night curfew hours and cancelled leave for all healthcare personnel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation later on Sunday, according to government sources.

The health ministry reported 327 new deaths, taking the official death toll since the start of the pandemic to 483,790. Total infections stand at 35.52 million.

According to an official data, the tally of Covid-19 cases registered globally since the start of the pandemic have topped 300 million.

More than 13.5 million infections have been detected worldwide in the last week, a massive rise of 64 per cent over the previous seven days, averaging out at 1,938,395 new infections per day.