New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the total number of coronavirus cases in the country will cross the 10 lakh-mark this week.

He had on Monday questioned the Centre's claims on battling COVID-19, asking if India was at a "good position" in the battle against the virus.

He has been critical of the government's handling of the situation.

"This week, the figure of 10,00,000 will be crossed in our country," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

The Congress leader also tagged a news report quoting the WHO chief who had said that if concrete steps were not taken, the coronavirus situation in the world would turn from bad to worse.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) chief on Monday slammed some government leaders for eroding public trust by sending mixed messages on coronavirus and warned that their failure to stop their countries' spiralling outbreaks meant there would be no return to normal for the foreseeable future.

With 28,498 fresh cases recorded in a day, India's COVID-19 tally sprinted past nine lakh on Tuesday, just three days after it crossed the eight lakh-mark, according to the Union health ministry data.

The total coronavirus caseload in the country surged to 9,06,752 and the death toll mounted to 23,727 with 553 people succumbing to the disease in 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am on Tuesday showed.