India confirmed a new record high of nearly 169,000 single-day casesMonday, surpassing Brazil to become the second most affected countryglobally again in terms of cases after the US.

India’s total cases have reached 13.52 million, according to the country’sHealth Ministry, while US-based John Hopkins University put the totalnumber of cases in Brazil at 13.48 million.

On Monday morning, India’s Health Ministry said that 168,912 cases wererecorded over the past 24 hours while the death toll stands at 170,179,including 904 new fatalities.

India also surpassed Brazil in September last year and became the secondmost affected country in the world by cases, but it slipped to third placeafter seeing a decline in cases until January this year.

There has been a record increase in cases in India over the past few weeks,with Maharashtra continuing to be the worst affected state.

The increase has come at a time when thousands of people have gathered innorthern Uttarakhand state for the auspicious bathing day of Shahi Snanduring the Kumbh Mela Hindu religious festival.

India also said late Sunday that it has banned exports of its anti-viraldrug Remdesivir.

“The government of India has prohibited exports of Injection Remdesivir andRemdesivir Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) till the situationimproves,” said the Health Ministry.

Many more cities and towns are also announcing night curfews and weekendlockdowns.

The country launched its vaccination drive on Jan. 16 this year. Accordingto official statistics, over 100 million vaccine doses have beenadministered so far.