NEW DELHI - India's COVID-19 death toll crossed the 250,000-mark as the total number of cases surpassed 23 million on Wednesday, confirmed the federal health ministry.

While the death toll rose to 254,197, the COVID-19 tally reached at 23,340,938.

As many as 4,205 deaths, the highest so far, were registered during the past 24 hours, as a spike of 348,421 cases was recorded since Tuesday morning.

There are still 3,704,099 active cases in the country, with a decrease of 11,122 cases in the past 24 hours. This is the second consecutive day when a decrease in active cases was witnessed.

A total of 19,382,642 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals so far across the country.

As the COVID-19 figures continue to peak, the federal government has ruled out a complete lockdown to contain the worsening situation. Some states have imposed night curfews or partial lockdowns.

Principal Scientific Advisor to India's Federal Government K. Vijay Raghavan recently said a third COVID-19 wave was "inevitable" in the country.

Delhi has been put under a third successive lockdown till May 17. While some school examinations are cancelled, others have been postponed.

India's nationwide vaccination drive was kicked off on Jan. 16, and the third phase of vaccination for people aged above 18 began on May 1. Over 175 million vaccination doses have been administered to the people across the country.

Meanwhile, the federal government has ramped up COVID-19 testing facilities across the country, as over 307 million tests have been conducted so far.

As many as 307,583,991 tests were conducted till Tuesday, out of which 1,983,804 tests were conducted on Tuesday alone, said the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday.

Two types of vaccines, the Covishield vaccine and the Covaxin vaccine, are being administered in India. Meanwhile, the country received its first doses of Russian-made Sputnik-V on May 1.