Students wearing protective face masks wait to enter an examination centre for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Ahmedabad, India, September 1, 2020. REUTERS/Amit Dave
BENGALURU - India reported a daily jump of 83,341 coronavirus infections, taking its tally to 3.94 million, health ministry data showed on Friday, as it closes in on Brazil as the world's second-most affected nation from the virus.
Asia's worst-hit country is now just around 60,000 cases behind Brazil, which has around 4 million confirmed cases, according to a Reuters tally. The United States is the worst affected nation, with more than 6 million cases.
India has logged the world's largest daily caseload every day for almost a month as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government pushes to open up the economy to prevent further damage from the pandemic.
Its economy performed worst in the April-June quarter among major economies globally, as the pandemic crippled businesses and forced India's 1.3 billion people to stay indoors for a majority of the quarter.
However, deaths in India from COVID-19 have remained relatively low. The ministry said on Friday 1,096 people died from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 68,472.
Globally, 863,863 have died from the disease, out of a total caseload of 26.15 million.
