India’s death toll from coronavirus crosses 400,000

Saturday, 3 July 2021 00:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

MUMBAI (Reuters): India reached the grim milestone of 400,000 deaths from the coronavirus on Friday, half of them during a second wave in the past few months that overwhelmed the healthcare system and crematoriums.

India has recorded 30.45 million cases since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, and is the second-most affected country behind the United States, which has 33 million cases.

The United States has over 604,000 deaths and about 518,000 people have died in Brazil.

India, the world's second-most populous nation, recorded 853 deaths in the past 24 hours, health ministry data showed on Friday. That took it past the 400,000 mark, with the last 100,000 being added in just 39 days, according to a Reuters tally.

But health experts believe India may have undercounted deaths significantly and the actual number could have reached one million or even higher.