India overtakes Brazil to become second worst-hit nation as coronavirus cases pass four million
Words by Sanjay Jha, ITV News, Delhi
India has surpassed Brazil to become the second worst-hit country by coronavirus, with more than four million cases.
It also set a new daily global record adding more than 90,000 new infections to its total.
Only the United States has seen more Covid-19 cases than India, where more than 6.1 million people have so far been found to be infected.
Senior International Correspondent John Irvine takes a look at the coronavirus situation in India
Daily record breaking numbers in India have contributed to the largest number of new infections anywhere in the world, every day for more than three weeks.
In the last fortnight, India has reported more than 75,000 new cases every day while Brazil and the US have record far lower daily infection rates.
On Monday, more than 90,000 cases were reported.
Currently, more than 1,000 deaths are being reported across India daily.
The country has the third-highest death toll in the world, with more than 71,000 recorded.
After a brief decline, the capital New Delhi has seen a rise in the number of coronavirus cases over the last few days.
A top Indian doctor Randeep Guleria has said that some parts of India are seeing a second wave off Covid-19 cases.
He said that there were many reasons for the resurgence in the number of cases, including an increased testing capacity.
Even as testing in India increased to more than one million per day, a growing reliance on screening for antigens or viral proteins is creating more problems.
These tests are cheaper and yield faster results but are not as accurate.
The danger is that the tests may falsely clear many who are infected.
ITV News has been reporting on the rapid rise of the virus over the last few months and weeks across India, from Delhi and Mumbai to Bihar’s hospitals and rural areas and Hyderabad.