Six-month report card: India's share in global Covid-19 deaths on the rise

There have been more than half-a-million deaths in the six months after the first Covid-19 death was reported in China in the second week of January.

Growth rates vary, but every country has struggled to contain the pandemic, shows an analysis of the numbers. India’s first death was around two months after the first one in China. But its share in the global toll is now at a new high (chart 1).

The number of cases in India has outstripped most other countries. Only Brazil and the US have more cases. The US has three million cases while