Agencies

India’s official coronavirus case tally hit two million yesterday, doubling in three weeks as the pandemic sweeps into smaller cities and rural areas, with experts warning the real toll could be much higher.

A record daily jump of more than 60,000 fresh infections was recorded, according to health ministry data, making the South Asian giant only the third country to surpass the two million milestone after the United States and Brazil.

The rate of spread in the world’s second-most populous country also appears to be increasing. India logged its first one million infections by July 17 and crossed the 1.5 million mark just 12 days after that.

Official figures show the country has now recorded 2.03 million infections and 41,585 deaths.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in late March.

But with Asia’s third-largest economy reeling from the impact -- tens of millions of migrant workers lost their jobs almost overnight -- the restrictions have been steadily eased.

Previously the main hotspots have been the teeming megacities of New Delhi and Mumbai, home to some of the world’s biggest slums.

But now smaller cities and rural areas -- where 70 percent of Indians live -- have begun to see case numbers rising sharply.

At least 19,127,000 coronavirus cases and 715,000 deaths have been registered worldwide, figures compiled by AFP from official sources showed, driven by surges in Latin America and India.

The United States has recorded the most deaths with almost 160,000, followed by Brazil with nearly 100,000. Globally, 40 percent of all cases have been notched in the two countries.

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