India overtakes Spain’s Covid-19 tally, becomes 5th

New Delhi: India has become the fifth-worst coronavirus-hit country in the world as it surpassed Spain on Saturday.

The total number of positive cases of the novel coronavirus in India rose past 2.45 lakh on Saturday evening, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.

With a record spike in cases for four consecutive days pushed total infections to 2,45,670, while Spain so far has recorded 2,41,310 cases, according to the university data.

In less than 24 hours, India surpassed Italy and then Spain to reach the grim milestone. Now, only the US, Brazil, Russia and the UK are ahead of it.

According to the Union Health Ministry, India registered a record single-day spike of 9,887 cases and 294 deaths by Saturday 8 AM, pushing the tally to 2,36,657 and the death toll to 6,642. The country registered over 9,000 cases for the third day in a row.

According to the Health  Ministry, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities.