The Latest: India adds 20,000 virus cases, over 370 deaths

NEW DELHI — India reported another single-day record high of new virus cases Friday while its monuments like the Taj Mahal will reopen for tourists next week.

The 20,903 new cases took the national total to 625,544. The Health Ministry also reported another 379 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking fatalities up to 18,213.

With the current rate of infections, India is expected to surpass Russia’s 660,000 cases in coming days and become the third worst-hit country after the United States and Brazil. It has the eighth-most fatalities in the world, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally, but both numbers are thought to be far higher than has been confirmed around the world.

After a strict two-month lockdown, India has eased its restrictions in most of the country except for the highest-risk areas.

The Culture Ministry decided to reopen all monuments Monday with a cap on the number of visitors and mandatory masks.

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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Texas governor issues mask order as hospitalizations rise dramatically

— With quarantine, Paraguay controls virus while its neighbors struggle

— How California went from success story to virus hot spot

— Virus concerns grow along with crowds at Jersey Shore

— Kim Jong Un urges North Korean officials to keep up their virus fight

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Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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