The total number of coronavirus infections in India has exceeded 20 million since the start of the pandemic, according to official data Tuesday.

During the last 24 hours, India recorded 357,229 new infections, bringing the total to 20.3 million, according to the Ministry of Health.

Additionally, India recorded 3,449 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 222,408.

However, many experts believe that the real numbers are much greater than those declared.

Notably, the country with a population of 1.3 billion is facing a second, more severe COVID-19 wave, and has counted eight million new infections since the end of March.

Hospitals are suffering from a shortage of oxygen, medicines and beds, all while being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, despite the influx of international aid in recent days.

However, the daily toll of new cases decreased in recent days, after reaching a peak with more than 400,000 injuries recorded Friday, dropping slightly Saturday with 392,500, then Sunday with 368,000, and dropping to less than 360,000 in the last 24 hours.

"If we analyze the numbers of daily injuries and deaths, there is a very early sign of a movement in the right direction," a senior health ministry official, Love Agarwal, told reporters Monday.

"But they are very early signals. It is necessary to analyze them in more depth and make efforts to monitor them continuously," he added.