Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi, in its parliamentary party meeting on Friday, demanded an all-party meeting and a meeting of Parliament Standing Committee on Health regarding the COVID-19 situation in the country.

The meeting is being held under the chairmanship of Gandhi through video conferencing.

According to sources, the meeting started with paying tribute to all former Members of Parliament (MPs), including former President Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel, Motilal Vora, Tarun Gogoi, who have recently passed away.

Earlier, the Congress President had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging the new COVID-19 vaccination policy was not only "discriminatory but also a complete abandonment of the youth" and urged the government to reverse the ill-considered decision.

"It is surprising that despite the harsh lessons of last year and the pain inflicted on our citizens, the government continues to follow an arbitrary and discriminatory policy, which promises to exacerbate existing challenges," she had written in the letter.

With a total of 4,14,188 new COVID-19 cases being recorded in the last 24 hours, India again reported its highest single-day spike on the second consecutive day.