India has administered more than 8.8 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the past 24 hours, government data shows — close to its all-time record and speeding up a campaign to inoculate all eligible adults by December.

The surge in inoculations comes alongside a sharp decline in daily new infections that have fallen to 25,166, the lowest since March 16, Reuters quoted the health ministry as saying.

India's overall Covid-19 caseload has reached 32.25 million, the second-highest globally behind the US. The country has reported 437 deaths over the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 432,079, the government has said.