On Saturday, Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan told his 43 million followers on Twitter that he was found infected with the corona virus.

The 77-year-old is one of India's most famous faces and has appeared in more than 200 films, countless commercials and recently made an informational film about covid-19, according to the BBC.

On Sunday, his son Abhishek Bachchan, 44, and sister-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, 46, as well as the couple's eight-year-old daughter were also infected with the virus. Abhishek and Aishwarya, who won the Miss World competition in 1994, are both prominent actors.

"An idol for millions"

Both men in the family are said to have mild symptoms, but will remain in hospital "until the doctors decide otherwise," Abhishek writes on Twitter. His wife and daughter have put themselves in the home quarantine.

- Dear Amitabh, I and the whole nation wish you a speedy recovery, says India's Health Minister Harsh Vardhan according to the BBC.

- You are an idol for millions in this country, an iconic superstar.

The message that the actress family was infected by the virus shed new light on the spread of infection in the country, reports the New York Times.

India, with 878,254 infected, is the third worst affected country in the world in terms of coronary failure. On Monday, more than 28,000 new cases were reported, which is the highest daily figure so far, according to AP.

Lower mortality

In several cities, the authorities have reintroduced measures against the virus since the spread of the infection began to increase after communities began to open.

So far, 23,174 people with covid-19 have been found dead in India, an increase of 500 people over the past 24 hours.

However, the mortality rate of the virus is significantly lower in India (16 per 1 million inhabitants) than in the severely affected US (416 per 1 million inhabitants) and Brazil (339 per 1 million inhabitants) - something that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has highlighted in several TV broadcasts speech.

According to experts, the explanation for the low death rates may be due, among other things, to India doing far fewer per capita tests than many other countries, the New York Times writes.