Rail minister dies as COVID-19 continues to hit India

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI, India (AA) - India's junior minister for railways died on Wednesday due to COVID-19 as the virus keeps battering India.

Suresh Angadi was admitted to hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 a few days ago. His condition deteriorated suddenly on Monday.

Meanwhile, India’s coronavirus tally crossed 5.7 million on Thursday, with 86,508 cases registered in the last 24 hours, said Health Ministry data.

The death toll in the country also rose to 91,149 from 90,020 in a day, said the ministry.

The data showed for the sixth consecutive day, the number of recoveries in the country surpassed the number of fresh cases. Over 87,374 people recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours.

India has the second-largest coronavirus cases in the world after the US.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday talked to chief ministers of seven states and exhorted them to assess the efficacy of local lockdowns of one to two days in controlling the spread of the virus.

“The country needs to not only keep fighting the virus, but also move ahead boldly on the economic front,” said Modi.

India's economy contracted by nearly a quarter from April to June, when the country went into a complete lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The country's gross domestic product shrank a record 23.9% in comparison to last year.