India records world’s biggest single- day jump in virus cases. Italy acts to reduce migrant overcrowding on Lampedusa.

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DELHI » India registered 78,761 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the biggest single- day spike in the world since the pandemic began, just as the government began easing restrictions to help the battered economy.

The surge raised India’s tally to more than 3.5 million, and came as the government announced the reopening of the subway in New Delhi, the capital.

It also is planning to move ahead with limited sports and religious events next month.

A country of 1.4 billion people, India now has the fastest- growing daily coronavirus caseload of any country in the world, reporting more than 75,000 new cases for four straight days.

One of the reasons is testing: India now conducts nearly 1 million tests every day, compared with just 200,000 two months ago.

ROME » Italian officials hastily chartered more ferries Sunday and put other measures into place to fight severe overcrowding at migrant centers on the tiny island of Lampedusa, where the arrival of 450 migrants on a rickety fishing boat triggered protests by islanders.

Meanwhile, a fire triggered an explosion Sunday on smuggling boat off of southern Italy, tossing 21 migrants into the sea and killing at least three of them, the local prefect’s office said.

The twin developments were just the latest challenges in Italy’s unending struggle to handle the thousands of migrants and refugees who cross the Mediterranean Sea each year in search of a better life.

Five migrants and two police were injured in the explosion on the sailboat off Calabria on the Italian mainland.

Coast guard and customs police vessels were searching for one migrant who was missing, the Crotone prefect’s office told The Associated Press.