India’s financial capital, Mumbai, has recorded 51,000 cases of Covid, taking it past the peak in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged.

Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, has 90,000 cases.

Infections are also spiking in the capital Delhi, where authorities have said they expect to see more than half a million cases by the end of July, BBC reported.

The surge coincides with India’s decision to relax restrictions after three months of a stringent lockdown that was intended to curb the spread of the virus.

On 8 June, shopping malls, places of worship and offices were allowed to reopen. Before that, shops, market places and transport services had all been allowed to operate as well.

Millions have already lost their jobs and livelihoods and businesses are shutting down, while the fear of hunger drove masses of daily-wage migrant workers to flee cities -mostly on foot because public transport was halted overnight.

Many of them died of exhaustion and starvation, in what has been called a human tragedy.