India's Covid-19 Death Toll Now World's 4th Highest

Indian coronavirus death toll increased to 48,040 on Friday, currently the fourth-highest in the world.

According to data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University, the country has overtaken the United Kingdom with a death toll of 46,791.

India's reported cases have crossed 2,461,190 with a one-day high of 64,553 over the last 24 hours, says AP. During this time, the country reported 1,007 new deaths.

More than 70 % of the patients have recovered.

The average rise in freshly reported infections amounted to around 15,000 in the first week of July, then soared to more than 50,000 in the first week of August.

The Ministry listed its research campaign, of more than 800,000 tests in a single day, bringing total testing to more than 26 million.

Health experts say it needs to be higher, given India’s population of 1.4 billion.

India's two-month nationwide shutdown at the end of March held infections small. Yet it has relaxed and is only applied in high-risk regions.

New cases soared after India reopened shops and factories, prompting hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to return from coronavirus-hit regions to their homes.

Subways, schools and movie theaters remain closed.