India surpasses Brazil with world's second highest COVID-19 cases

New Delhi: India has the world's second highest number of coronavirus cases, passing Brazil on Monday to reach more than 4.2 million confirmed infections as the epidemic surges across the South Asian nation.

Now the global virus hotspot, India added the largest number of cases in a day with 90,802 recorded overnight Sunday, according to data released by India's health ministry. More than 71,000 people have died from Covid-19, making India the third-largest by number of deaths.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government initiated the world's biggest virus lockdown in the country of 1.3 billion people in late March, but the economic and social costs forced a gradual reopening even as infections surged at a record pace.

India's economy posted the biggest contraction among major economies last quarter, with its gross domestic product shrinking 23.9% in the three months to June from a year earlier.

On the same day as India surpassed Brazil's infection tally, the country's largest metro system in the capital New Delhi began operating again, while limited religious and sporting events have been allowed to restart and bars are set to open.

Experts say there is no sign of a peak as cases surge in the world's second most populous country, both in major cities, such as New Delhi and the financial hub of Mumbai, and rural areas that have limited access to health services.

"It's becoming a double burden now," Rajib Dasgupta, a professor of community health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in the capital, said.

"The urban areas are not slowing down and rural areas are picking up." Monday's jump was the third straight daily record in India, government data showed.