NEW DELHI - India's federal health ministry Monday morning said 500 new deaths due to COVID-19, besides fresh 28,701 positive cases, were reported during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 23,174 and total cases to 878,254.

This is said to be the highest single day spike in the number of fresh cases in the country so far.

"As on 8:00 am (local time) Monday, 23,174 deaths related to novel coronavirus have been recorded in the country," reads information released by the ministry.

On Sunday morning the number of COVID-19 cases in the country was 849,553, and the death toll 22,674.

According to ministry officials, so far 553,471 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.

"The number of active cases in the country right now is 301,609," reads the information.

Presently the country has entered Unlock 2.0 phase, though restrictions remain in full force inside the COVID-19 Containment Zones. Commercial international flights to and from India are suspended until July 31.

Last week, the government of Uttar Pradesh, the country's biggest state in terms of population, had decided to impose a weekend lockdown from Friday night till Monday morning, to cut the chain of transmission of Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The state decided Monday it would continue with similar lockdowns every weekend.