Coronavirus cases: India reports 3,60,960 new COVID-19 cases, 3293 deaths in last 24 hours

New Delhi, Apr 28: Union health ministry on Wednesday said that India's COVID-19 tally surged past 17.99 million with 360,960 fresh cases recorded in the last 24 hours while the death toll due to the viral disease crossed the 200,000 mark with 3,293 fatalities recorded during the same period.

According to the health ministry, India has been reporting over 300,000 new infections daily for the past one week amid a scarcity of health infrastructure. The active cases in the country stand at 2,978,709, which accounts for 16.34 per cent of the total confirmed cases.

These numbers come days before India is set to launch the third phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive under which all adults, where all citizens above the age of 18 years will be eligible to take the jab. Several states, including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Rajasthan said they will not be able to begin the inoculation campaign on May 1 due to 'shortage' of vaccines stock.

As the nation battles the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting with top officials to review the situation in the country in terms of oxygen availability, medicines, health infrastructure, etc.

"The PM instructed the officials to work closely with state governments to start the PSA Oxygen plants at the earliest," his office said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Australia has also offered assistance, including 500 ventilators, as part of its initial support package. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that more medical equipment, including 100 oxygen concentrators, will be procured and shipped to India over the next week.