NEW DELHI: India, on Sunday, June 5, overtook Russia to become the third worst-hit nation by the coronavirus pandemic after the total number of cases neared seven lakhs. According to data released by the John Hopkins University, India is now preceded by the US and Brazil. The deadly novel virus has infected 2,852,807 people in the US and the death toll stood at 129,718 while in Brazil the tally rose to 1,577,004.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, the country registered the biggest spike on Sunday since the outbreak, with nearly 25,000 fresh coronavirus cases and 425 deaths in the last 24 hours. The fresh cases and deaths have pushed the total cases in the country to 6,97,412 and the death count to 19,693. The recovery rate stands at 60.77 percent, with 4,24,432 patients across the country having recovered from the highly contagious disease. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 97,89,066 samples were tested for the disease in the country till July 4, with 2,48,934 of those tested on Saturday.