India's COVID-19 tally surpassed 17 million on Monday with as many as 352,991 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.
Over the past several days, several COVID-19 specialty hospitals in different parts of the country have been facing an acute shortage of oxygen. In some cases, patients even died due to a shortage of oxygen.
To address the problem, the prime minister's office said on Sunday that as many as 551 new medical oxygen generation plants would be set up across India.
The country will also exempt basic customs duty on imports of COVID-19 vaccines, medical-grade oxygen for a period of three months.
Meanwhile, local media say India is facing a vaccine shortage at vaccination centers.
So far, over 140 million vaccination doses have been administered to people across the country since the nationwide vaccination drive kicked off on Jan. 16.
Local media also reported that the ongoing second wave of COVID-19 in India is projected to come to its peak in the middle of May.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
