India to ease COVID-19 restrictions as cases decline

India will begin easing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions after reporting its lowest daily number of new coronavirus infections in two months, Reuters reports.

The South Asian country on Sunday reported 114,460 new infections. For much of April and May, the country was reporting over 300,000 cases daily, peaking at over 400,000 in mid-May.

India has been heavily impacted by a second wave of coronavirus infections that has drained much of its health system’s resources. It currently has the second highest number of COVID-19 infections with 28.8 million confirmed infections, though health experts believe these numbers are likely being underreported.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 346,759 deaths have been confirmed so far. Over 218 million vaccine doses have been administered in the country of more than 1.3 billion.

However, Reuters reports that India’s richest state, Maharashtra, will begin easing lts lockdown restrictions beginning this week. Maharashtra has suffered the most infections stemming from the most recent second wave of cases.

Scientists have warned that a third wave of COVID-19 infections could come later this year, Reuters notes. This third wave will likely affect children more and the majority of the India’s population will likely still be unvaccianted by the time it hits.

Internationally, several countries have donated health supplies and vaccine doses to India, while also restricting travel from the country.