India has now identified and recorded more cases of the novel coronavirus than mainland China, where the global pandemic originated, CNN reports.

India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported Saturday, May 16 that it had identified 85,940 people who tested positive for the virus. It came after China's National Health Commission earlier reported that it had 82,941 cases since the outbreak began.

The two countries are in very different stages of the outbreak. India is still under lockdown and public health authorities there are identifying hundreds of patients a day, while China appears to have flattened the curve.

Chinese authorities are only recording a handful of new cases a day throughout the country.