India Nearing 5 Million Cases – Ranks Second Only to US
India has confirmed 83,000 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country’s total to nearly 5 million since the pandemic began. Virus related fatalities reached almost 81,000 with 1,054 deaths reported on Tuesday.
The country now has the second highest total number of coronavirus cases. The US still leads globally with 6.57 million cases and over 194,000 deaths to date. Since many colleges resumed in-person classes this month, the US saw a spike of over 600,000 new cases in the past week alone, which US health official believe to be a driving factor in the increased spread.
In India, Maharashtra remains the most affected region, reporting over 1 million cases. According to data released by John’s Hopkin’s University, India’s Health Ministry has reported a nearly 80% recovery rate with 3.8 million surviving the virus to date.
The country’s Parliament, which was closed from March 24 until September 14, stated over 10 million migrant workers traveled back to their home villages amid the initial mandatory nationwide lock-down, which they believe to be a key factor in the virus quickly spreading to all areas of the country.
Ann Sullivan is a contributing staff writer covering national and world news topics. She brings dedicated experience having written international and domestic news, blogs, and web content for over 20 years. She’s also a published poet and graphic designer with degrees in Business and Graphic Communications and has been a music distributor, music industry sponsorship sales director and band manager.