Global coronavirus cases have surged past 25 million, according to a Reuters tally, as India marked a worldwide record for daily new cases in the Covid-19 pandemic.

The data showed steady global growth as the disease’s epicentre shifts again, with India taking centre stage from the United States and Latin America.

The official number of global coronavirus cases is now at least five times the number of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually, according to World Health Organisation data.

Around the world, there have been more than 840,000 deaths, considered a lagging indicator given the two-week incubation period of the virus. That has exceeded the upper range of 290,000 to 650,000 annual deaths linked to influenza.