India’s recent spikes in coronavirus cases have made it the country with the third-most reported infections, trailing only the United States and Brazil.
India now has more than 720,000 cases, and more than 20,000 people who have become infected have died. This beats out the official count in Russia, where there have been more than 700,000 cases and more than 10,000 deaths.
Over the weekend, India reported its highest single-day spike, with 25,000 new cases. Monuments, including the Taj Mahal, that were expected to reopen to tourists this week have remained closed indefinitely, according to NPR.
The hardest-hit parts of the South Asian country, which has a population that exceeds 1.3 billion people, remain its urban centers of New Delhi and Mumbai, leaving hospitals overcrowded and prompting makeshift medical centers to be constructed in convention centers.
After the nationwide caseload rose to 500,000 late last month, Indian officials made efforts to screen New Delhi residents for any symptoms of COVID-19.
Though India now has the third-highest number of cases, it ranks eighth in its death toll, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world in cases and deaths, seeing nearly 3 million cases of the coronavirus and 130,000 deaths. Brazil follows in both cases and deaths, seeing more than 1.5 million cases and more than 65,000 deaths. Russia, now ranking fourth in cases, still has a lower reported death toll than India.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously praised the country’s handling of the coronavirus, referring to its disparity in deaths compared to its caseload. Russia has a population of about 144 million people.
