NEW DELHI: India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 34,466,598 on Wednesday, as 10,197 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data.

Besides, as many as 301 deaths were recorded since Tuesday morning, taking the death toll to 464,153.

Currently, there are 128,555 active cases in the country, with a decrease of 2,238 during the past 24 hours. “India’s active caseload is lowest in 527 days,” said the federal health ministry.

A total of 33,873,890 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far, with 12,134 new recoveries.

Previously, Indian authorities had restricted major religious festivals that attract huge crowds, warning that a new Covid-19 wave had already begun in the financial capital Mumbai.

State governments across the country of 1.3 billion people, which saw a devastating coronavirus surge in April-May, had clamped down on mass gatherings.

“The third wave is not coming, it is already here,” Mumbai’s mayor Kishori Pednekar told reporters on Tuesday.

“We can celebrate festivals later. Let us first prioritise the lives and health of our citizens,” added Uddhav Thackeray, the chief minister of Maharashtra.

He spoke ahead of the 11-day Hindu Ganesh Chaturthi festival, which starts Friday. The last Covid-19 wave overwhelmed India’s hospitals and was known to have killed more than 200,000 people.

It struck after one of the world’s biggest religious gatherings, the Kumbh Mela, which attracted some 25 million Hindu pilgrims.

That gathering, large state election rallies and the infectious Delta virus variant — first detected in India — were blamed by experts for fuelling the surge. Authorities said a recent spike in cases in the southern state of Kerala after the Onam festival in August should be cause for alarm.

But festive crowds have still packed markets in Maharashtra and other states in recent days, ignoring the warnings. The state government will limit the height of effigies of the elephant-headed god Ganesha to reduce the number of devotees carrying them during the festival.

Processions on the festival’s first and last days will be banned. Restrictions on movements and activities are expected to be introduced this week as cases rise in another major Maharashtra city, Nagpur.

In the neighbouring state of Karnataka, a night curfew will remain in place and districts posting higher positive test levels will be banned from holding Ganesh celebrations.

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India restricts religious festivals over new Covid surge fears

Mumbai: Indian authorities are restricting major religious festivals that start this week...