Alarmed by signs that a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic is building, India's richest state of Maharashtra has ordered fresh restrictions on people's movement and imposed night curfews in some cities, though not in the financial capital Mumbai.

Maharastra alone reported nearly 7,000 new cases yesterday, a steep rise from just 2,000 cases earlier this month, with fears heightened by the appearance of new strains of the virus in parts of the country.

“We just cannot afford to impose a second lockdown, people will have to follow the guidelines or else we could see a massive second wave,” said S. D. Patil, a member of the Maharastra government team monitoring the spread of the disease in a state that accounts for nearly a fifth of India's confirmed cases.

“People will have to stop attending social events and non-essential travel at this juncture,” he told Reuters.