India records 366,161 new COVID-19 cases, 3,754 deaths in last 24 hours

India recorded 366,161 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the Union Health Ministry’s data released on Monday showed. 3,754 fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours across the nation, which took the COVID death toll to 246,116. India’s tally of COVID-19 cases has now reached 22,662,575. 

Also read: Variant leading India’s explosive second COVID wave: Top WHO scientist

On Sunday, 353,818 people recovered from the COVID-19 disease. The tally of recovered cases has now reached 18,671,222. There are currently 3,745,237 active cases of coronavirus in India. 

Also read: PM Modi’s actions during India’s COVID crisis ‘inexcusable’: The Lancet

Since the mass vaccination drive against COVID-19 was kicked off in India on January 16, more than 170 million people have received at least one of the two doses of vaccine. The Centre on May 1 opened up vaccination for all adults.

Also read: Rural India in trouble as cases, deaths quadruple in 2nd COVID wave: Report

Currently, two vaccines — Covaxin and Covishield — are being administered in India. The former is the indigenous jab developed at Hyderabad’s Bharat Biotech. Covishield is AstraZeneca/Oxford’s jab that is being manufactured at the Pune-based Serum Institute. A third vaccine, Russia’s Sputnik V, has also been approved by India’s drug regulator for emergency use.

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The second wave of COVID-19 in India has been very aggressive and fast-spreading. The country has overtaken Brazil and the US in the number of daily cases. Several states have imposed lockdowns and strict restrictions amid shortages of hospital beds, oxygen and medicines.