New Delhi: As the country draws closer to the end of the third phase of lockdown, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has topped the 52,000-mark while the death toll has mounted to 1,783.

Experts reckon that the rise in the number of cases is directly linked to an increase in clusters of infected people. And, people are contracting the viral infection despite being indoors.

Speaking to IANS, Balwinder Arora, Medical Superintendent (MS) at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, said that the virus continues to infect people despite them being indoors, and when they step out, it helps in the spread of the virus.

"Even if people are indoors, the virus continues to infect them, and as a result the clusters of infected people are increasing. The virus is building its own pool in the community. We should continue to fight against COVID-19 through herd immunity, this will help in creating resistance against the viral infection," said Arora.

He added that the positives in the country's fight against coronavirus mortality are very low, and efforts should be focussed on keeping the death rate as low as possible.

Responding to a query on mutation of the virus being responsible for this sudden spurt in the number of positive cases, Arora replied, "The virus has already undergone mutation at different geographical locations. There are 8 to 10 mutants, and A2a strain is predominantly responsible for infecting 50 per cent of the people. The virus is also trying to build its own pool."

With 3,561 new cases and 89 deaths in the last 24 hours, the total tally of confirmed cases in the country went up to 52,952 on Thursday. Of the total cases, 35,902 are active while 15,266 people have recovered, while 1,783 people have succumbed to the dreaded virus.

Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with 16,758 cases, followed by Gujarat with 6,625 cases and Delhi with 5,532 cases.

Sanjeev Choubey, Medical Director at St. Michael Hospital in Shanghai, said the virus will continue to spread in the community despite people staying indoors due to the lockdown.

Responding to a query on asymptomatic persons adding to the number of cases, Choubey, who has the experience of handling many coronavirus patients, said, "Asymptomatic persons have largely contributed to the spread of the virus. The serpentine queues outside liquor shops would also contribute to increasing the numbers further in the coming weeks. By not following social distancing norms, infected people or carriers pass on the virus, and when these infected persons go back home, they spread it in the family."

(Sumit Saxena can be contacted at sumit.s@ians.in)