India hurtled toward the 3 million mark for coronavirus cases on Friday (Aug 21), reporting 68,898 new infections in the last 24 hours, data from the federal health ministry showed.

The total number of cases in the country now stands at 2.9 million.

Deaths in the same period jumped by 983, with the total now at 54,849.

India is the worst-hit country in Asia, and third behind the United States and Brazil in terms of total cases of the coronavirus.