NEW DELHI — India on Friday crossed 13 million total cases of coronavirus, making it only the third country in the world to do so.

The country reported 131,968 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest single-day rise since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Indian health ministry.

India has recorded 1 million cases in just 11 days. India last added 1 million cases in the same time frame in September 2020, when the country was experiencing the peak of its first wave.

India recorded 780 new deaths on Friday, the highest single-day death toll since Oct. 18 last year, according to figures from the Indian health ministry.

According to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is better equipped to handle the caseload during the second wave compared to the first wave. The country needs to focus on micro containment, ramping up testing, quick contact tracing of positive patients, and providing treatment, he said on Thursday.

“Despite all the challenges, we have a better experience, resources, and a vaccine. Along with public participation, our hardworking doctors and healthcare staff have helped a lot in handling the situation and are still doing it today,” Modi said at a meeting with chief ministers of states taking stock of the ongoing second wave on Thursday.

States such as Maharashtra, Odisha, and Punjab have complained of vaccine shortages and several districts in Maharashtra have had to suspend vaccination drives, the state’s health minister said Thursday.

According to a senior administrative official in Mumbai, more than 70 centers in the city have said they do not have vaccines available. The central government has said it is doing everything it can to help the states, the health minister said in a statement earlier this week. — Courtesy CNN