As India bears witness to the horrors unfolding during the second wave of the coronavirus, the country crossed the grim statistic of two lakh COVID-related deaths on Wednesday, 28 April.
On Wednesday, India breached the 3,000-mark for daily COVID-related deaths for the first time and a record 3,293 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s death toll to 2,01,187. On 2 October 2020, India had crossed 1 lakh COVID-related deaths, and subsequently the 1.5 lakh mark on 6 January 2021.
The Daily Case Tally
Meanwhile, a staggering 3,60,960 new COVID-19 cases were detected across the country – the highest daily surge recorded in the world since the pandemic began. India’s caseload now stands at 1,79,97,267.
For the seventh straight day, over 3 lakh fresh infections were reported in the country, since it first reported 314,835 new COVID cases on 22 April.
The figure had surpassed the previous highest one-day surge in the world of 297,430 cases recorded by the United States in January.
This month alone, around 60 lakh new infections were reported across the country.
This outbreak in the number of cases has been widely reported as an effect of a new virus variant, mass elections campaigns and religious gatherings as well as a slacking in COVID-19 protocols.
Where Does India Stand in the Global Death Toll?
Wednesday was the eighth consecutive day when India’s death toll crossed the 2,000 mark.
A global comparison demonstrates that USA has seen the highest COVID deaths so far, with the virus killing over 5.80 lakh people in the country. Brazil is the second-worst hit with over 3.90 lakh deaths, while Mexico has seen around 2.15 lakh COVID-related deaths.
India’s death toll of 2,01,187 is the world’s fourth-worst. The country’s death toll rose at an alarming rate recently. Until the first week of August, it was behind the United States, the United Kingdom and Mexico.
April has been the deadliest month since the inception of the pandemic, with the last seven days accounting for over half of the deaths reported in the entire month.
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