BENGALURU (Reuters) - India’s total coronavirus cases rose by 78,524 in the last 24 hours to 6.84 million on Thursday morning, data from the health ministry showed.

Deaths from COVID-19 infections rose by 971 to 105,526, the ministry said.

India’s death toll from the novel coronavirus rose past 100,000 on Saturday, only the third country in the world to reach that bleak milestone, after the United States and Brazil, and its epidemic shows no sign of abating.

Last week, India further eased restrictions and permitted states to open schools and movie theatres.