NEW DELHI, May 17 (Xinhua) -- India's federal health ministry on Monday reported 281,386 confirmed cases during the past 24 hours, the first time since April 21 that new COVID-19 cases reported on daily basis have fallen below 300,000 mark.

Meanwhile, as many as 4,106 related deaths were reported from across the country on Monday, raising the death toll in the country to 274,390.

The number of total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country now has risen to 24,965,463, the ministry said.

India has been fighting a deadly second wave of COVID-19, registering an average of over 300,000 daily new cases during the past few weeks.

The number of active cases in the country right now is 3,516,997, according to the information released by the ministry on Monday.

Over 182 million (182,926,460) people have been vaccinated across the country since the beginning of the vaccination drive on Jan. 16 this year, it said.

On May 1, the third phase of COVID-19 vaccinations was started for people who are 18 years and above. However, the inoculation process has been hampered due to the severe shortage of vaccines. Reports pouring in from many states said people are being turned away at vaccination centres because of the shortage of vaccines.

The shortage of essential medical supplies including medical oxygen has also emerged as a key challenge for the government.

The federal government in New Delhi has ruled out imposing a complete countrywide lockdown. However, many states have imposed night curfews, weekend lockdowns and complete lockdowns to break the spread of infection.

Meanwhile, the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown in the national capital region has been extended by a week further and will last until next Monday.