India sees rural coronavirus cases soar

India’s coronavirus caseload has risen to 425,282 as infections soar in rural areas to which migrant workers fleeing major cities have returned in recent weeks.

India’s health ministry yesterday reported 14,821 new cases and about 300 new deaths, bringing the toll of fatalities up to more than 13,000. The coastal state of Goa reported its first Covid-19 death.

India is the fourth most-affected country globally after the United States, Brazil and Russia.

India’s government planning body Niti Aayog says infections have now emerged in 98 out of 112 of the country’s poorest districts.

The Indian government ran special trains to bring thousands of migrant workers back to their ancestral villages in recent weeks.

Still, about 60% of India’s cases have been reported in the states of Delhi, which includes the capital of New Delhi; Maharashtra, home to India’s financial capital Mumbai; and Tamil Nadu, where manufacturing hub Chennai is located.

In South Korea, the country has reported 17 new cases of Covid-19, the first time its daily jump came down to the teens in nearly a month.

Its 40 to 50 cases per day increases over the past two weeks have occurred as people increased their public activities amid eased attitudes on social distancing.

An increase in imported cases has prompted authorities to halt providing new visas for travellers from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Twelve of the new cases reported yesterday were from the Seoul metropolitan area.

Meanwhile, New Zealand reported two new cases of the virus yesterday as a trickle of infected people continue to arrive at the border.

The country has nine active cases after having none at all earlier this month. Health officials say all those cases involve people who have recently arrived and are in quarantine, and there’s no evidence of community transmission.