NEW DELHI (AP) – India added another 89,706 coronavirus cases to the second-highest tally in the world, and the government said schools would reopen later this month for senior students after more than five months closed.
India’s famed white marble Taj Mahal in the northern city of Agra will also reopen Sept. 21 with access restricted to 5,000 tourists daily to prevent overcrowding.
According to the Health Ministry, India’s total caseload on Wednesday reached 4.37 million. The ministry also reported 1,115 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities up to 73,890. India has the second-most cases in the world and the third-most deaths behind the United States and Brazil.
More than 1 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus in India in less than two weeks. Testing has been ramped up to more than 1 million daily, with cumulative testing exceeding 50 million.
In the Indian capital, authorities said COVID-19 testing centers can take walk-ins without a doctor’s prescription. This follows a rise in the daily tally of coronavirus cases to 2,411 from less than 1,000 last month.
The Health Ministry on Tuesday announced partial reopening of schools from Sept. 21 for students of 9-12th grades for taking teachers’ guidance. Online learning will still be permitted.
Schools were shut after India imposed a strict nationwide lockdown on March 25. The government started easing it in May to revive economic activity.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
– The number of new coronavirus infections in South Korea has stayed below 200 for the 7th straight day. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday the 156 cases added in the past 24 hours took the country’s tally to 21,588 with 344 deaths. The agency said 100 of the new cases were locally transmitted patients in the Seoul area, which has been at the center of a viral resurgence since early August. Authorities in the Seoul area have ordered the shutdown of churches, night establishments and after-school academics and curbed late restaurant services to try to curb new infections.
