World nears 20 million Covid cases, India’s rise a worry

The number of daily cases of Covid-19 in India is now ahead of the United States. This makes it the country with the highest number of daily infections. Cases in the globe are close to the 20 million mark. The countries in the top three position are India, US and Brazil.

In the seven-day period between 1 and 8 August, India reported 399,263 new Covid-19 cases against 384,089 cases in the US. This is the first time the average weekly rise in India crossed that of the US.

This is the first time in a month-and-a-half that any country’s cases have grown faster than the US. Among the three worst-hit nations, only India’s rate of infections is currently rising. Brazil and the US have been reporting a steady decline in new infections over the past few weeks.

In all, infections have been reported in over 200 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. The US remains the worst-hit nation in the world with 1,65,269 deaths.

As countries across the world started lifting months of lockdowns, many that had largely controlled a first wave, started seeing a second wave of cases.

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