India overtakes Brazil as Covid-19 cases surge

A record addition of 90,802 fresh cases of coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours took India past Brazil as the world's second-worst hit country today in terms of total number of patients.

India's total Covid-19 caseload now stands at 42,04,613 while the death count rose to 71,642, reports our New Delhi correspondent, quoting the country's health ministry data.

This is the second successive day India reported more than 90,000 new infections in 24 hours.

The United States, which has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world, has logged over 62.75 lakh infections so far, about 20,000 more than India.

India has been reporting the highest number of daily cases in the world for nearly a month, according to World Health Organisation data.

About 32.5 lakh Covid-19 patients across India have recovered so far and more than 69,000 recoveries were recorded in the last 24 hours, according to health ministry data.

The number of active Covid-19 cases in India stands at 8,82,542.

The record single-day spike in fresh cases comes as India's testing has gone up substantially and the country's economy opened up further.

In West Bengal, the Covid-19 death toll rose to 3,562 with 52 more fatalities till Sunday evening while 3,087 fresh cases of the contagion pushed the total tally in the state to 1,80,788.

West Bengal Food Minister Jyotipriyo Mallick tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday and was admitted to a hospital. He is the fourth minister in the state to be infected with the virus.

Veteran actor Bibhas Chakraborty was also admitted at a hospital with Covid-19.

The north eastern state of Assam reported 1,537 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, pushing the total tally to 1,25,459, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Eight more patients died in the state, following which the death toll rose to 360, he said.