NEW DELHI, April 12 (Xinhua) -- India has recorded 31 new deaths and 827 new cases due to the coronavirus on Sunday, according to the federal health ministry.

The death toll reached 273 and the total number of confirmed cases stood at 8,356, with 7,367 active cases in the country.

On Saturday evening the number of COVID-19 cases in the country was 7,529 and the death toll was 242.

According to ministry officials, so far 716 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.

Sunday marks the nineteenth straight day of an ongoing 21-day lockdown across the country. The three-week lockdown was expected to end on April 14 before the government's decision of an extension on Saturday.

On Saturday Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with chief ministers of states to strategize the tackling of COVID-19, when three states Maharashtra, Telangana and West Bengal announced the extension of lockdown until April 30 on Saturday evening.

Previously, two Indian states of Odisha and Punjab had extended the COVID-19 lockdown until April 30 and May 1 respectively.