India crossed to 9 million coronavirus cases, behind US

India has crossed the grim milestone of 9 million coronavirus cases, with 45,882 new infections recorded in the last 24 hours, the health ministry says.

India is only the second country to cross 9 million coronavirus infections, after the United States, but cases have slowed down in the country after hitting a peak in September.

Government officials and experts have warned that the country could still see a spike after the festival of Diwali was celebrated this month.

Nevertheless, the country’s new daily cases have seen a steady decline for weeks now and the total number of cases represents 0.6 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population.          

Authorities in capital New Delhi are fighting to head off nearly 7,500 new cases a day while ensuring the flagging economy does not capsize again.

The Government hiked the fine for not wearing a mask four times to 2,000 rupees ($36.96) as it considered fresh restrictions.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sought the federal government’s approval to shut down city markets, which are likely hotspots for the deadly virus.

In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, which has reported 192,000 COVID-19 cases so far, the Government will impose a night curfew in Ahmedabad city from Friday (local time).

The curfew, which begins at 9:00pm and ends at 6:00am, will be in force until further notice, said Rajiv Kumar Gupta, the senior government official in charge of managing COVID-19 in Ahmedabad.