India's COVID-19 death toll rises to 19,693, total cases close to 700,000

India's federal health ministry Monday morning said 425 new deaths due to COVID-19, besides fresh 24,248 positive cases, were reported during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 19,693 and total cases to 697,413.

The country has overtaken Russia to become the world's third-worst affected nation by the pandemic.

"As on 8:00 a.m. (local time) Sunday, 19,693 deaths related to novel coronavirus have been recorded in the country," reads information released by the ministry.

According to ministry officials, so far 424,433 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.

"The number of active cases in the country right now is 253,287," reads the information.

Presently the country has entered the "Unlock 2.0" phase, though restrictions remain in full force inside the COVID-19 containment zones.

On Friday the country's civil aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation announced commercial international flights to and from India shall remain suspended until July 31.