For the first time on Monday, India recorded the highest death toll in a single day across the globe, ahead of the US and Brazil. India logged 637 deaths, a fraction ahead of Brazil, which recorded 627 deaths. While the USA recorded 570 deaths, Russia, which is placed fourth globally in terms of number of cases, was way behind at 85 deaths.

India’s death rate was much higher than the USA, which is the worst-affected nation in the world. While the USA recorded 60,271 positive cases for 570 deaths on Monday, India clocked 47,000 cases for 637 deaths. In percentage terms, India death rate was 1.35 per cent on Monday whereas the USA clocked 0.95 per cent mortality rate.

India’s overall mortality rate stands at 2.42 per cent and the USA’s around 3 per cent. This suggests that both the USA and India have brought down their mortality rate. The same trend is visible in the case of the global mortality rate, which stood around 2 per cent during the last one week.

The global mortality rate could come down further once South American nations like Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile check the numbers of people who are succumbing to the virus. During the last one month, Mexico has recorded a mortality rate of nearly 10 per cent whereas Brazil has also clocked a high mortality rate of around 4 per cent during the last one week. Both Chile and Colombia also have a mortality rate of around 4 per cent.

Globally, the USA leads the death tally with a total of 1,50,418 cases on Monday followed by Brazil 87,000 cases, Mexico 43,680 deaths, UK 45,000, and India 34,000.

When Europe and the USA were first hit by the pandemic, the mortality rate was around 10 per cent in many countries including Spain, Italy, UK, and the USA.

With a better understanding of the nature of the virus, the world has largely been able to contain the mortality rate except in South American countries where there has been blatant disregard to social distancing norms and other related precautions.

In fact, the president of Brazil Jair Bolsanario, who has tested positive for the Covid-19, himself led an anti-lockdown protest in the capital city Brasilia. In Mexico, nearly 14 per cent of the population does not even believe in the existence of the coronavirus.

Overall, while the virus continues to sweep across the world, it is becoming clear that the medical science has been able to bring down mortality rate to a level which seemed a far cry just two months ago.