India COVID cases above 24 million as mutant spreads across globe

India records 4,000 deaths and 343,144 infections in last 24 hours amid reports that strain first detected in the country is spreading across the globe

The number of recorded COVID-19 infections in India has climbed above 24 million amid reports on Friday that the highly transmissible coronavirus mutant first detected in the country was spreading across the globe.

The B.1.617 variant of the virus, first identified in India, has been found in cases in eight countries of the Americas, including Canada and the United States, Jairo Mendez, a World Health Organization (WHO) infectious diseases expert said on Friday.