India's COVID-19 tally surpasses 22m

India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 22-million mark on Sunday, reaching 22,296,414, as 403,738 new cases were registered in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.

Besides, as many as 4,092 deaths took place in the country since Saturday morning, taking the total death toll to 242,362, added the ministry. This was the fourth consecutive day when over 4,000 deaths were recorded in 24 hours.

There are still 3,736,648 active cases in India, with an increase of 13,202 active cases through Saturday. A total of 18,317,404 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals so far across the country.

The COVID-19 figures continue to peak in India, as the federal government has ruled out a complete lockdown to contain the worsening situation. Some states have imposed night curfews or partial lockdowns.

Earlier this week Principal Scientific Advisor to the government K Vijay Raghavan said a third COVID-19 wave was inevitable in the country.

Delhi has been put under a third lockdown till May 10. Some school exams have been cancelled or postponed in the wake of COVID-19 situation.

The number of daily active cases has been on the rise over the past few weeks. In January the number of daily cases in the country had come down to below-10,000.

Over 169 million vaccination doses (169,439,663) have been administered since India kicked off a nationwide vaccination drive on Jan. 16.

Online registration began on Wednesday for vaccinating people aged above 18. This is the third phase of COVID-19 vaccination, which began on May 1.

Meanwhile, the federal government has ramped up COVID-19 testing facilities across the country, as over 300 million tests have been conducted so far.

As many as 302,275,471 tests have been conducted till Saturday, out of which 1,865,428 tests were conducted on Saturday alone, said the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Two types of vaccines - COVISHIELD and COVAXIN - are being administered to the people in India.

Meanwhile, India received its first doses of Sputnik-V, the Russian-made vaccine, on May 1.