India becomes third country with highest number of coronavirus

India has recorded more than 24,000 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, taking its total above that of Russia.

The country now has the third-largest number of confirmed cases in the world at 697,413 with 19,693 deaths.

The latest surge in numbers was due to rise in cases from a handful of southern states, including Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

India reopened shopping centres, places of worship and offices a month ago.

For the last three days, India’s caseload has galloped at an alarming rate, adding more than 20,000 daily infections per day.