May 06, 2020 (New Delhi) – India surpasses Italy to become the sixth-worst nation hit by deadly coronavirus pandemic on Saturday, taking the infection tally to 2,36,657 and casualties to 6,642.

India, in a grim milestone, is at the sixth spot in terms of coronavirus infection after the United States, Brazil, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. 

According to WHO, measures taken in India slowed the impact of virus transmission but there would be a surge in the cases as the economy opens up. 

‘’It added that the over 200,000 current coronavirus cases in India, a country of over 1.3 billion people, look big but for a country of this size, it’s still modest,’’ said WHO in a press release issued on Saturday.

The WHO further added, ‘’India is a heterogeneous and huge country with very densely populated cities and much lower density in some rural areas and varying health systems in different states and these offer challenges to the control of COVID-19.’’

The Lockdown in India was first imposed on March 25 which was spanned for a period of 21 days. The second phase began on April 19 that stretched for 19 days till May 03. The third phase of the lockdown was continued for 14 days and ended on May 17. The fourth phase ended on May 31.