The death toll from the novel coronavirus in India topped 218,000 Monday as the country grapples with a new wave of infection, the Indian government said.
India reported 3,417 new deaths over a 24-hour period, which brought the total to 218,959 deaths as of Monday, according to the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The number of deaths in the country is now the third highest in the world after the U.S. and Brazil, exceeding Mexico at 217,233, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
With 368,147 new cases over the past 24-hour period, India confirmed 19,925,604 total cases, according to the health ministry.
The spread of two new virus variants in the country has apparently accelerated the increase in cases, according to local media.
As the surge has caused a shortage of hospital beds, medicines and medical oxygen, many patients could not receive proper care at hospitals.
Sayani Dastidar, a resident in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh who has COVID-19, said the shortage has reached a serious level.
"We had to isolate ourselves at home because of a lack of beds at hospitals," said the 30-year-old woman, adding her parents were also infected.
Amid rapidly increasing cases, some state governments have placed their municipalities under a curfew to try to contain the spread of virus.
