Indian state exceeds one million coronavirus cases, rivalling Russia, stifling recovery

FILE PHOTO: People wait to board passenger buses during rush hour at a bus terminal, amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Mumbai, India, September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Niharika Kulkarni/File Photo

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's biggest and richest state, Maharashtra, recorded its millionth coronavirus infection on Friday, putting it on par with Russia in the pandemic and stifling India's attempts to turn around an economic plummet.

Cases in the western state, home to financial capital Mumbai, passed 1 million as infections have been rising some 20,000 a day recently. If it were a country, the state would now rival Russia for the fourth-highest caseload globally.