India has surpassed Brazil in terms of the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, becoming the second-most affected country in the world.

Health Ministry figures released early Monday show the total number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases has reached 4.2 million with 90,802 fresh infections, surpassing Brazil, which has a total of 4,137,521 confirmed cases.

It marks the second consecutive day in which India has recorded more than 90,000 cases.

The death toll in India has now reached 71,642, including 1,016 fatalities in the last 24 hours.

While India is seeing a record number of Covid-19 cases, the Health Ministry has been maintaining that there has been a surge in daily recoveries.

On Sunday, for the second straight day, the country recorded the recovery of more than 70,000 patients, taking the total number of recoveries to nearly 3.2 million.

Local experts say that by the end of September, India may even surpass the US— the worst-affected country worldwide—in the severity of the pandemic. (PNA)