With 3,970 new positive cases in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 tally has now exceeded that of China’s official figures. However, India’s confirmed coronavirus deaths are still well below China’s.
According to the latest Health Ministry data released on Saturday morning, India has 85,940 confirmed coronavirus cases so far, compared to China’s 84,038.
Of India’s cases, 2,752 have died, and around 30,152 have recovered, while 53,035 remain active.
In China, where the epidemic began in December last year, months earlier than in India, COVID-19 has claimed 4,637 lives.
The surge in coronavirus numbers in the country emerged despite the imposition of a strict nationwide lockdown to contain the disease. With India still discovering several thousand new cases each day, it shows no sign of yet flattening its curve.
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Globally, COVID-19 has infected more than 4.5 million people and has now claimed over 3 lakh lives, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
India is now the 11th most-affected nation in the world. The US tops the charts with more than 14 lakh cases, followed by Russia, UK, Spain, Italy and Brazil with over 2 lakh cases each; and France, Germany, Turkey and Iran having over 1 lakh cases each.