India recorded more than 350,000 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, setting a devastating world record for the 5th day in a row

A COVID-19 patient gets admitted to a government hospital in Kolkata, India, 22 April, 2021.

Indranil Aditya/NurPhoto via Getty Images

• India recorded more than 350,000 daily COVID-19 cases on Sunday.
• This is the fifth day in a row India has broken the world record for daily COVID-19 cases.
• Hospitals in India are full and oxygen is running low. Other nations, including the US, have pledged to help.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

India has set a world record for the most new coronavirus cases for the fifth consecutive day.

The country recorded more than 350,000 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours on Sunday, up more than 5,600 from the day before, according to covid19india.org, an independent aggregator of daily figures.

More than 2,800 people died from COVID-19 on Sunday, a new record for India, taking the country's total recorded death toll to more than 195,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

The country is struggling to cope: Hospitals are full, oxygen is running low, and crematoriums are burning for so long that they have started to melt.

Total infections in India have now surpassed 17 million. In comparison, the US has recorded more than 32 million infections - but the number of new infections in India is now higher than the whole of North America, Insider reported Friday.

The region of Maharashtra, home to one of India's largest cities, Mumbai, has been hardest hit, with more than 4.2 million total confirmed infections so far, according to covid19India.org.

Experts say actual infection numbers could be higher because testing is not universal and deaths are not always accurately reported, the New York Times reported.

Global COVID-19 cases are the highest they've ever been, despite falling infection numbers in some rich countries.

Countries around the world including the US, UK, France, Germany, Singapore and China offered aid over the weekend. Tech giants Microsoft and Google have also publicly pledged to help.

President Joe Biden said Sunday that the US would provide supplies for testing, drugs, and vaccines to support India through the crisis.

A National Security Council spokesperson said that the US is "working around the clock" to help India.

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