India becomes world’s second worst-hit country by coronavirus

Coronavirus infections in the South Asia sub-region surpassed the grim milestone of 15 million over the weekend, while India reported a record surge on Monday to overtake Brazil as the world's second-most affected country by the pandemic.

India reported a record 168,912 COVID-19 infections overnight, data from the health ministry showed on Monday, overtaking Brazil to become the second-most affected country globally by the coronavirus.

India’s overall tally reached 13.53 million, surpassing Brazil’s 13.45 million cases, according to data compiled by Reuters. The United States led the global tally with 31.2 million cases.

Deaths in India stood at 904, taking the total to 170,179, data showed.

Meanwhile, the national capital on Sunday registered 10,732 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the single-day highest spike since the pandemic broke out early last year, while there were 48 more deaths, as per the Delhi health bulletin.

The previous highest single-day spike, 8,593 cases, was reported on November 11, 2020 during the third wave. Delhi had reported 7,897 new cases on Saturday, and 8,521 on Friday. However, the number of samples tested on Saturday was also less.

As per the bulletin, the daily positivity rate was reported at 9.43 per cent, while the number of recoveries stood at 5,158.

With the new cases, Delhi's Covid tally reached 7,25,197, including 6,79,573 patients who have recovered so far, while the cumulative positivity rate was reported at 4.66 per cent.

The number of active cases stands at 34,341, out of which 17,093 are in home isolation, while the toll has risen to 11,283.