Coronavirus: India’s daily cases top 100,000 for first time; Singapore to expand vaccines to under-45s

Mumbai authorities asked all private offices to work from home through April as India’s financial hub battles a massive resurgence of infections

Japan is fearful that Covid-19 variants are behind a possible fourth wave, as Australia gave nearly 80,000 people a virus vaccination to set a new single-day high

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A nurse prepares to vaccinate health care workers at a hospital in Singapore. File photo: Reuters

Published: 7:45am, 5 Apr 2021Updated: 9:48pm, 5 Apr 2021

India’s daily Covid-19 cases soared by 103,558 on Monday, the biggest such daily increase, data from the health ministry showed, taking the total to 12.59 million.

The country added 478 new deaths, raising the total to 165,101.

Mumbai authorities asked all private offices to work from home through April as India’s financial hub emerges once again as the epicentre of a new wave of coronavirus infections.

Banks, stock exchanges, medical and insurance services will be allowed some staffing concessions, according to a government notification on Sunday. All non-essential services including malls, places of worship and beauty salons will shut operations from 8pm on Monday.

“There is an alarming rate of growth of Covid-19 cases and deaths in the country,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal government said in a statement earlier Sunday. Maharashtra state accounted for 57 per cent of new infections over the past 14 days and 47 per cent of deaths during the period.

Maharashtra will impose a complete lockdown over weekends. Anyone breaking the rules will be fined 500 rupees (US$7), a luxury for many in the city where the amount could buy a second-class mid-distance railway pass to cover you for a month.