India becomes third worst affected country by coronavirus, overtakes Russia

India on Sunday edged past Russia to become the third worst-hit country by the Covid-19 pandemic, powered by a surge in new infections in southern states of Karnataka and Telangana which have reported a jump in fresh cases over the past few days.

According to the DH Covid-19 Tracker, India had 6,94,053 confirmed cases of the infectious disease at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday as against 6,80,283 cases reported in Russia. Globally, the US has the most number of Covid-19 cases – 28.39 lakh, followed by Brazil which has reported 15.77 lakh infections.

On Sunday morning, India had 6,73,165 confirmed cases of Covid-19, of which 4,09,083 had recovered and had been discharged from hospitals, while 19,268 had succumbed to the disease. As many as 2,44,814 patients were under active medical supervision.

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“The national recovery rate now is at 60.77 per cent,” the health ministry said.

Maharashtra continued to report the highest number of Covid-19 cases as it added 6,555 new infections on Sunday evening, as against the 7,074 cases reported on Saturday. Karnataka reported 1,925 cases on Sunday, slightly higher than the 1,839 new infections it had reported on Saturday.

Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 cases on Sunday as against 4,280 cases on Saturday, while Kerala, which has a low caseload, too has been adding new infections at a faster pace. Kerala had reported 240 new infections on Saturday, while it added 225 cases on Sunday.

Telangana too has been reporting higher number of patients – 1,850 on Saturday.

Delhi’s Covid-19 count inched closer to one lakh-mark as 2,244 cases were reported on Sunday. The national capital now has 99,444 confirmed cases of the infectious disease, while 63 fatalities pushed the total deaths to 3,067.

On the testing front, India has tested 2,48,934 samples for Covid-19 on Saturday across its network of 1,100 laboratories that include 786 state-run facilities and 314 private laboratories. The total number of samples tested so far is 97.89 lakh.