India Coronavirus Cases: Over 1.5 crore samples have been tested so far.

New Delhi:

India overtook France on Friday as the number of deaths linked to coronavirus passed 30,000 and nearly 50,000 new cases were reported overnight, official data showed.

The number of deaths in the country is now the sixth-biggest behind the US, Brazil, Britain, Mexico and Italy, according to an AFP tally. It has the third-highest caseload with almost 1.3 million infections.

In the past 24 hours the country recorded 740 new deaths from the virus and 49,310 fresh infections, according to the health ministry.

But many experts say that with testing levels low, the extent of the pandemic across the world’s second-most populous country may be far worse than officially reported.

A antibody study commissioned by the government showed this week that almost a quarter of people in the capital New Delhi have had the virus — almost 40 times the official number.

The government imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in late March, but it has been steadily eased to lessen the devastating economic impact of the pandemic.

State governments have brought in fresh restrictions as cases soar in Bangalore and away from the big cities in Bihar, West Bengal, Kashmir and parts of Tamil Nadu.

Kerala, earlier hailed as a success story and which has already imposed partial restrictions, may decide on Monday to impose a full statewide lockdown, reports said.