Coronavirus: India nears 7 lakh mark; overtakes Russia to become third worst-hit country

India is closing in on 7 lakh coronavirus cases. It overtook Russia to be No. 3 among the worst-hit nations in the world due to the virus. However, India's mortality rate now stands at 2.8% which is down from 2.9%

New Delhi: Another big single-day jump of 24,248 COVID-19 cases took India's tally close to the 7 lakh mark on Monday (July 6), while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 19,693 with 425 new fatalities, according to the Union health ministry.

With this, the country has recorded over 20,000 cases of the infection for the fourth consecutive day.

India has now taken the third spot in the list of nations worst hit by the coronavirus. The country logged more than 6.9 lakh cases on Sunday evening, according to data from state governments, overtaking Russia, which had 6.8 lakh as per America's Johns Hopkins University.

India is now preceded only by Brazil and the US. Brazil has over 15 lakh cases and the US has more than 28 lakh.

According to the Monday morning update of the Union health ministry, a single-day jump of 24,248 COVID-19 cases pushed India's tally to 6,97,413.

With a steady rise, the number of recoveries stands at 4,24,432 in the country, while one patient has migrated. There are 2,53,287 active coronavirus cases in the country, the data showed.

"Thus, 60.85% of the patients have recovered so far," the ministry said. 

The total number of confirmed cases also includes foreigners who tested positive in India.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 99,69,662 samples were tested for the disease in the country till July 5, with 1,80,596 just on Sunday.