Active coronavirus cases in India increased by 4,421 in 24 hours, a spike of three per cent, to go back over the 1.5 lakh mark for the first time in 17 days & register the steepest increase since end-November. On November 27 the active caseload was 4,55,555 - an increase of 3.85 per cent from the 4,38,667 recorded on November 24. This is the fifth consecutive day in which active cases (calculated as the difference between new cases and recoveries) have increased; 13,506 new cases have been added in this period. Spike in national numbers comes as five states - Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Chhattisgarh & Madhya Pradesh - report increased daily numbers. Meanwhile, the US crossed the grim milestone of 500,000 on February 22. It matches the number of Americans killed in World War II. An emotional President Joe Biden called the milestone "heartbreaking" & urged the country to unite against the pandemic. According to an AFP report, the US recorded an estimated 405,000 deaths in World War II, 58,000 in the Vietnam War & 36,000 in the Korean war. US toll is by far the highest reported in the world.