India has reported 1,089 dead and 85,362 infected with the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, officials said today.

The Ministry of Health has raised the total number of cases in the country to more than 5.9 million, with deaths rising to 93,379 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Despite the numbers, the authorities decided to hold the first legislative election in the state of Bihar. Almost 72 million people can vote for three days at the end of October, even with restrictions on social distancing.

The authorities will also face a great season of religious festivals that begins next month and in which there are agglomerations in temples and commercial areas.

The average number of new cases in India fell by about 7,000 a day this week after reaching a record 97,894 contagions on September 16.

The pandemic of COVID -19 has caused at least 984,068 deaths and about 32.3 million cases of infection worldwide.

The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December in Wuhan, a city in central China.

After Europe succeeded China as the center of the pandemic in February, the American continent is now the one with the most confirmed cases and the most deaths.