India on track to surpass U.S as worst-hit
The country has posted the highest single-day caseload in the world since early August, and lags behind only the United States, which has 6.7 million cases in terms of total infections.
- World
- Compiled from news agencies
- Published Date: 09:07 | 20 September 2020
- Modified Date: 09:07 | 20 September 2020
India has registered 92,605 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and is expected to surpass the United States as the pandemic's worst-hit country within weeks.
The Health Ministry on Sunday also reported 1,133 additional deaths for a total of 86,752.
Sunday's surge raised the country's virus tally to over 5.4 million. India, however, also has the highest number of recovered patients in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. Its recovery rate stands at about 80%.
Over 60% of the active cases are concentrated in five of India's 28 states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has faced scathing criticism for its handling of the pandemic amid a contracting economy that left millions jobless.