Coronavirus cases in India jump nearly 100k in last day, expected to pass US in weeks

Coronavirus cases in India have jumped by nearly 100,000 since Thursday, putting the country on track to surpass the U.S. in total cases in the coming weeks. 

According to The Associated Press, India reported 96,424 new cases in the past 24 hours. The country has now reported 5.21 million cases, or 0.37 percent of its nearly 1.4 billion citizens. 

The country also reported 1,174 more deaths in the past 24 hours, marking a total of 84,372 fatalities.

About 60 percent of active cases are concentrated in five of India’s 28 states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, according to the country’s health ministry.

Indian officials plan to extend their ban on gatherings of more than four people in Mumbai, one of the country’s hardest-hit areas, according to the AP. 

India still trails the U.S. in terms of total COVID-19 infections and deaths, but in recent weeks they passed Brazil as the country with the second highest number of total cases. 

Brazilian officials had reported nearly 4.5 million total cases and 134,000 deaths as of Friday. 

The U.S. is approaching 200,000 total deaths and more than 6.5 million total cases.