COVID-19 Second Wave: India's death toll crosses 3 lakh, more than 1 lakh have died in the last 26 days

In the month of May, the country has so far recorded 91,867 fatalities due to COVID-19. (Representative image: Reuters)

India recorded 4,454 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the number of dead to above 3 lakh, making it only the third country after the US and Brazil to cross the grim milestone, the latest health ministry update shows.

Around 1 lakh people have died in the last 26 days in India, the highest for any country. In the United States, the death toll increased from 3.5 lakh to 4.5 lakh in 31 days during the third wave of the pandemic between December 2020 and January 2021, reported The Times of India citing Worldometers.

In May alone, 91,867 fatalities people have died on COVID, up from 2,11,853 on April 30, as per the health ministry’s data.

India has reported 3,03,720 deaths since its first case was recorded in early 2020, with almost 50,0000 people dying in just 12 days. On May 11, India's death toll was 2,54,197.

The country is grappling with a record-breaking wave of the coronavirus pandemic that has stretched the country's healthcare infrastructure as a shortage of hospital beds, oxygen and medicines cost lives. Infections have slowed down in the last few days but fears remain for rural areas where the virus has spread.

India's death toll is next only to the US (604,087) and Brazil (449,185), the Worldometers data showed.

The coronavirus infection tally has climbed to 2.67 crore (2,67,52,447) with 2,22,315 fresh cases reported on the day, the health ministry data updated at 8 am on May 24 shows.

India's Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7; 30 lakh on August 23; 40 lakh on September 5; and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28; 70 lakh on October 11; crossed 80 lakh on October 29; 90 lakh on November 20 ; and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.