Coronavirus cases in India surpass 5 million

NEW DELHI, India

India surpassed the 5 million mark in coronavirus cases Wednesday as the country continues to battle the spread of the disease.

Health Ministry figures showed that 90,123 fresh cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections in the country to 5,020,359. India has added one million cases in less than two weeks.

There were also 1,290 fresh coronavirus-related deaths in the country, taking the total to 82,066.

On Tuesday, the country had seen a slight drop in the daily figures with 83,809 new infections. Before that, it was recording over 90,000 cases on a daily basis for five days.

India is currently the second worst-hit country worldwide by COVID-19, with experts predicting that by the end of September, it may even surpass the US -- the worst-affected country -- in terms of the severity of the pandemic.

While the total number of cases in India has now reached over 5 million, a survey published in a medical journal estimated that the country had 6.4 million infections three months ago.