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 India reported a near-record 62,064 new cases of the virus in the
past 24 hours, according to federal health data released on Monday,
taking its total number of cases to more than 2.2 million.
India has fewer cases than only the United States and Brazil, though
it has reported a relatively low number of deaths, at fewer than
45,000, although epidemiologists say the peak of its outbreak could
be months away.
Cases in India have been spreading from urban areas to smaller towns
and the countryside, where health infrastructure is already
over-burdened.
The Lord Venkateswara temple in the town of Tirumala in south India,
one of the biggest and most wealthy Hindu shrines in the world, said
two of its staff and one former employee had died of COVID-19 since
June 11, when it reopened to the public after a government lockdown.
In all, 743 temple employees had been infected by the virus, it
said.
"We are providing the best medication to those infected. We are
taking utmost precaution, social distancing norms are followed,
devotees and others are wearing masks," said the chairman of the
temple's trust organisation, Y. V. Subba Reddy.
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It was not clear how many of the temple's thousands of daily visitors had
contracted the virus.
The trust employs about 22,500 workers including 300 priests and controls 10
temples, including the main Venkateswara temple where it employs 36 priests.
India started a phased re-opening after a strict lockdown that was imposed on
March 25. Temples and other places of worship were allowed to open in June.
Places of worship draw many thousands of people in India and premises are often
cramped, making social distancing difficult.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi and Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai;
Editing by Alasdair Pal)
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