COVID-19: India has reported nearly 500,000 new cases in past 7 days

The World Health Organization (WHO) says India reported the most new COVID-19 cases of any country in the past week, its nearly half a million fresh infections pushing the global tally up by 1 percent.

According to a Reuters tally. more than 25.44 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally since the new coronavirus emerged in China late last year and 847,965​ have died.

The WHO said South-East Asia “has reported the largest week-on-week increase, largely due to increased case detections in India.”

The UN agency said India “has reported nearly 500,000 new cases in the past seven days, a 9 percent increase compared to the previous seven days and the highest numbers of new cases globally.”

Several previous hotspots — including Ghana, Kenya, Gabon and Madagascar — have recorded fewer new cases, the WHO said.