File photo: Agencies

India announced Monday that it had logged nearly 700,000 coronavirus cases, taking it past Russia to become the world's third-hardest-hit nation in the global pandemic.

The health ministry said 697,358 cases had now been recorded, a rise of 24,000 in the last 24 hours, while Russia has just over 681,000 cases.

India has registered 19,963 deaths from the virus, a much lower number than many other badly hit countries. The United States and Brazil have the highest numbers of cases.