India records highest number of cases globally in August – but continues to lift lockdown

WHO says country has single-handedly raised the global Covid-19 caseload by 1 per cent in the past week – yet metro services are reopening and key national exams are going ahead, as Adam Withnall explains

Students maintain social distance while waiting to take key college exams on the outskirts of Srinagar, in Kashmir, on 1 September (EPA)

India continued to ease lockdown restrictions on Tuesday, opening up businesses and transport links and reducing red tape on inter-state travel – at the end of a month that has seen it report the highest number of coronavirus cases anywhere in the world.

The nearly 2 million infections recorded by the health ministry in August takes its total up to 3.7 million, and eclipses even the highest monthly figures set by the worst-affected US and Brazil.

Experts have said India will ultimately overtake both those countries to have the world’s highest caseload. It added an average of 64,000 cases a day in August, setting a global single-day record of 78,761 new cases on Sunday, although the figure was slightly down to 69,921 on Tuesday.