COVID-19: Mumbai coronavirus spike pushes up India's cases

India recorded 3,712 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest in nearly a month, the Health Ministry reported on Thursday.

The financial capital Mumbai accounted for the highest number of cases with 739 new confirmed infections — 96% of them asymptomatic — on Wednesday night.

That figure represents nearly double the number Mumbai reported just two days ago, which was 318.

Shashank Joshi, a member of the state government COVID-19 task force , asked people to protect the vulnerable, saying the current "graph of Mumbai shows a silent wave" driven by "mild omicron variants."

Hospitalizations were low and there was no need to worry, authorities added.

Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, was one of the worst states affected during the coronavirus surge in April and May 2021 in the country. India has recorded more than 43 million cases and 524,641 deaths since the pandemic began.