InDia’s Cases OF COViD- 19 keep rising Police, protesters clash over tighter virus rules.

India has maintained its surge in coronavirus cases, adding 93,337 new confirmed infections from Friday to Saturday.

The Health Ministry on Saturday raised the nation’s caseload to more than 5.3 million out of its nearly 1.4 billion people. It said 1,247 more people died in 24 hours, for a total of 85,619. The country has more than a million active cases with a recovery rate of about 80%.

India has been reporting the highest single- day rise in the world every day for more than five weeks. It’s expected to become the pandemic’s worst- hit country within weeks, surpassing the United States.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has faced scathing criticism from opposition lawmakers in India’s Parliament for its handling of the pandemic amid a contracting economy leaving millions jobless.

LONDON » Police clashed with protesters Saturday at a rally against coronavirus restrictions, even as the mayor warned that it was “increasingly likely” that the British capital would soon need to introduce tighter rules to curb a sharp rise in infections.

Scuffles broke out as police moved in to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in Trafalgar Square. Some protesters formed blockades to stop officers from making arrests, and traffic was brought to a halt in the busy area.

The “Resist and Act for Freedom” rally saw dozens of people holding banners and placards such as one reading “This is now Tyranny” and chanting “Freedom!” Police said there were “pockets of hostility and outbreaks of violence towards officers.”

Britain’s Conservative government last week imposed a ban on all social gatherings of more than six people in a bid to tackle a steep rise in COVID- 19 cases in the country. Stricter localized restrictions have been introduced in large parts of England’s northwestern cities, affecting some 13.5 million people.