India to surpass Brazil as it sees a record 83K new cases

Sept. 3 (UPI) -- India reported a record daily increase of more than 83,000 infections on Thursday as the Asian nation threatens to surpass Brazil for the second-most infected country to the pandemic.

Health officials in India reported 83,883 new coronavirus cases in the past 24-hours, besting its previous record of nearly 78,512 infections on Aug. 31.

India has been struggling to contain the coronavirus that has been spreading throughout the nation at an exponential rate since its first cases were diagnosed in late January.

The new figure lifts India's total to 3.85 million, which is some 100,000 cases behind Brazil's 3.99 million infections.

The Ministry of Health said over Wednesday it had tested more than 1.17 million people.

"India's daily testing numbers are one of the highest in the world," it said in a statement.

The ministry said the surge in testing will enable early diagnosis, which will relieve pressure on hospitals, helping to drop the country's already low 1.7% mortality rate.

India's death toll rose by 1,043 on Thursday to 67,376, which is also third worldwide in deaths behind Brazil with 123,780 and the United States with 185,747 lives lost to the virus.

The United States sits first in infections with 6.1 million, but it has been experiencing a relatively steady drop in cases since registering a high of 77,255 cases in mid-July, according to a live tracker of the virus by Johns Hopkins University.

The North American country also posted 39,670 cases over Wednesday, its third time registering fewer than 40,000 infections in four days.