India's coronavirus caseload skyrocketed by a record 15,000 on Sunday as migrant workers left major cities and returned to rural villages. The increase of 15,413 cases on Sunday — and a further 14,821 reported on Monday — has brought India's total COVID-19 infections to 425,282. Sunday's rise was the largest daily increase in cases reported in India so far. There were 445 new deaths from the disease on Monday, bringing the total death toll to 13,699, India's health ministry reported. A total of 306 new deaths were reported on Sunday. The largest increase came on June 17 where 2,003 deaths were reported. The spike was due to the total deaths being revised because of unspecified accounting 'discrepancies'. It was not immediately clear how many of the deaths occurred that day and how many were from adjustments over a longer period. Nearly 90 percent of India's poorest districts have coronavirus cases, though the outbreak remains centered in Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu states. These states are home to some of India's major cities including New Delhi and Mumbai. Delhi's COVID-19 caseload is nearing 60,000-mark as the national capital continued to register over 3,000 coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that his government will give pulse oximeters to the COVID-19 patients under home isolation in the city and said the number of coronavirus tests has increased by three times in the national capital. Addressing an online media briefing, Arvind Kejriwal said India is currently fighting two wars against China — one against the virus that has come from the neighboring country and the other on the border. Meanwhile, the Karnataka government has decided to seal the coronavirus cluster areas in the state amid the surging cases of the infection. "It has been decided that clusters (areas having 3-4 #COVID19 cases) will be totally sealed and maximum testing will be done there. Only critical cases will be shifted to COVID-19 hospitals," state Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced. — Agencies
