The number of coronavirus infections in the world crossed 15 million Wednesday, according to Reuters tally. There are now 15,009,213 cases of Covid-19, at least triple the number of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually. The country worst hit by the pandemic is the United States, followed by Brazil. At least 616,000 people have succumbed to the disease.

India, the third ranked country, reported 37,724 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 648 deaths in the 24 hours ending 9 am Wednesday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. This took the country’s tally to 11,82,915, including 4,11,133 active cases, 7,53,050 recoveries and 28,732 deaths.

President Donald Trump reiterated India was second after the United States in testing samples for Covid-19. “We’re going to be over 50 million tests,” Trump said at a news conference Tuesday, adding that the “second country is India with 12 million (tests)”. According to a tally released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday, India had conducted nearly 15 million tests.

In other news, most doctors who took part in the ICMR’s trial on plasma therapy have found blood transfusion from recovered Covid-19 patients to those with moderately severe illness to be effective. However, they warned that the timing of the transfusion will be challenging.

In New Delhi, the serological survey conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to assess the exposure of the coronavirus in the population showed an over 20 per cent prevalence of Covid in eight of the 11 districts. Further, it also indicated that over 77 per cent were vulnerable to the virus.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, two private labs tested antibodies of nearly 10,000 people, and found that 24.3 per cent had antibodies against Covid. Dr Sujata Baveja, head of microbiology in Sion hospital, said this was good news, as it meant a large number of people were exposed to the virus, had no symptoms and got immunity. The study also found that New Delhi was more exposed to the disease than Mumbai.

In another development, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said there would never be another lockdown in Bengaluru or any other part of the state as it was impacting state revenues. He appealed to people to practice social distancing and wear masks.