India reopens as cases soar

• Delhi CM Kejriwal in isolation, to undergo Covid-19 test
• Pakistan hospitals running out of beds as virus cases surge past 100,000

Malls and temples opened across India yesterday after a 10-week lockdown, despite a record daily rise in new cases and predictions that the epidemic will worsen for weeks to come.

The government has risked easing restrictions in a bid to ease the devastating blow to the economy dealt by the coronavirus.

But the number of new cases rose by 9,983 to 256,611, according to government figures announced yesterday, putting the country of 1.3 billion on course to quickly overtake Britain and Spain among nations with the highest number of infections.

The reported death toll of 7,135 is lower than other badly-hit countries, but India's epidemic is only expected to peak in July. Many experts say the toll is higher.

In the capital, Delhi, shopping malls, restaurants, temples and mosques re-opened for the first time since March 25.

But highlighting the city's reputation as one of India's worst coronavirus hotspots, one day after announcing the reopening, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal went into isolation with virus symptoms including a fever.

The Indian government says the tough lockdown has limited the spread of the coronavirus. But it is now braced for a major hit to the economy, with millions of labourers now jobless. Rating agencies have said the economy could contract by more than five percent this year, after average growth of about seven percent over the past decade.

Pakistan has recorded more than 100,000 cases of coronavirus, health authorities said yesterday, as hospitals warned they are running out of beds to treat patients.

In recent weeks the country of more than 210 million has reported a sharp rise in new infections, and the government said more than 100,000 cases and 2,000 deaths had now been recorded. Last week a leaked government report suggested there were nearly 700,000 infections in Lahore alone.

Doctors at several main hospitals in the historic eastern city told AFP they were running out of beds, ventilators and other vital equipment.

In Karachi, health centres are turning away the sick, with a large sign near the entrance of the Indus hospital stating there was no room for coronavirus patients.