New Delhi, July 9: Even as India is the third worst-affected country due to coronavirus pandemic, the government has defended its plan of action to mitigate the health crisis. Citing the 1.3 billion-population of the nation, the health officials claim that the Centre has been considerably successful in restricting the virus outbreak.

"The global comparison between the five most affected countries clearly depicted that India has one of the lowest cases per million (538) and deaths per million (15), as compared with the global average of 1453 and 68.7, respectively," said a statement issued by the Government of India. No Community Transmission of COVID-19 in India So Far, Says Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

The worst-affected nation - the United States - has reported 9,544 cases per 1 million population - way higher than India, according to tracker Worldometers. The deaths per million were recorded as 407 by the time this report was published.

Brazil, the only other nation ahead of India in terms of the overall count, has reported an average of 8,073 cases in a population of 1 million each. The deaths per million in the South American nation was recorded as 320 as per the latest update of Worldometers.

Russia and Peru, the two countries chronologically below India in terms of COVID-19 tally, have recorded 4,847 and 9,488 cases per million population, respectively. The average number of deaths in the same segment of population was recorded as 74 and 338, respectively.

India's comparatively successful effort in saving lives was reiterated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address earlier today.

"A huge country like Brazil, with a similar population to Uttar Pradesh, has suffered around 65,000 deaths due to COVID19. While in Uttar Pradesh, around 800 people have lost their lives, it means many lives have been saved in the state," Modi said.

"100 years ago, a similar pandemic happened, it is said that back then the population was not this big in India. Even then, at that time, India was one of the countries which had the most deaths. That is why whole world was concerned for India this time," he added.

"Experts were raising questions on India, saying this time also the situation will get worse but what happened? Uttar Pradesh, a state with population 23-24 crores, with support of its people overcame all these apprehensions," the PM further said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 09, 2020 02:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).