New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS): As India surpassed Brazil in the number of coronavirus cases on Monday to occupy the second position in the world tally, the Congress again hit out at the Centre for what the party called the failure to check the pandemic and demanded that the Prime Minister inform the country about his government's plan to tackle it.

"The Narendra Modi government has failed on the pandemic front. The government has left the citizens to their fate as India becomes the second worst-hit nation in terms of the number of infections," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged at a press conference here.

"The government should also clarify on the community transmission aspect while reopening public transport (like the Metro services) to the public, which can lead to further spike in coronavirus cases."

The Congress leader also slammed what he called "unscientific statements" by BJP leaders and central Ministers on COVID-19.

He said that the "unplanned" nationwide lockdown imposed in March 2020 has not yielded any positive results but only increased the sufferings of the poor, pointing out that the suggestions by the Congress on tackling of the pandemic and regular warnings issued by party leader Rahul Gandhi were "ignored" by the government.

With a highest single-day spike of 90,802 corona cases, India's tally crossed the 42- lakh mark. The country surpassed Brazil to become the second worst-hit nation after the US.

Out of the total 42,04,613 cases, 8,82,542 are still active, with 32,50,429 recoveries.