Huma cries as she waits to speak with her grandmother Salma, a coronavirus patient in New Delhi India. Reuters

India has reported nearly 25,000 new coronavirus infections and 487 new deaths. The new infections announced by the Health Ministry on Thursday bring the nationwide total to 767,296, the third most reported by any country.

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The surge in infections comes as the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai says its calculated transmission rate for the virus rose during the first week of July to 1.19 after steadily falling from a peak of 1.83 in March. A transmission rate is the number of new infections estimated to stem from a single case.

India’s infection numbers have skyrocketed since the government eased lockdown restrictions and as testing has ramped up to more than 200,000 samples a day, compared to just a few hundred a day in March.

Relatives pray before the cremation of a woman, who died due to the coronavirus in New Delhi, India. Reuters

Health experts say the true extent of the virus’s spread in India is unknown and that the country must test more given its population of nearly 1.4 billion people.

China says it has nine new confirmed coronavirus cases, all of them brought from outside the country, and no new deaths.

Thursday’s report buttresses growing signs the virus has been essentially contained inside the nation in which it first appeared late last year.

An Indian health worker helps another wear personnel protection equipment in Gauhati, India, on Wednesday. AP

The near elimination of local virus transmission has allowed the reopening of most businesses and resumption of some social activities, including the holding of the crucial annual college entrance exams. Sports, tourism and cultural activities are also slowly starting to return.

The wearing of masks remains obligatory in most indoor spaces and a proof of health is required for entrance to many venues.

China has reported a total of 4,634 deaths among 83,581 cases of COVID-19 during the pandemic.

Associated Press