India reports over 90,000 new coronavirus cases

India is in the grip of a severe second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 93,249 fresh infections reported on Sunday, its highest daily spike in over six months.

Amid concerns about capacities in the health care system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting in New Delhi with top government officials to assess the situation.

They discussed an outreach campaign for coronavirus prevention measures such as wearing a mask for this week, as well as sending teams of health experts to the worst-affected states.

Eight states account for 81.42 per cent of the infections reported in the last 24 hours. These are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, according to a federal Health Ministry bulletin.

At least 12 states were showing an upward trend in Covid-19 cases, the Health Ministry bulletin said, adding that containment measures and Covid-19 protocols should be followed.

The western state of Maharashtra and its capital Mumbai accounted for around 60 per cent of the new cases and 277 of the 513 deaths reported in 24 hours to Sunday.

The state's chief minister Uddhav Thackeray called a cabinet meeting for later Sunday to discuss measures going forward and the possibility of fresh lockdowns, NDTV news channel reported.

At the Maharashtra cabinet meeting, it was decided to have a lockdown on weekends, when only essential services would be allowed. All malls, bars and restaurants would be closed on Saturdays and Sundays.

There would also be a nightly curfew across the state from 8 pm to 7 am. Gatherings of more than five people would not be allowed.

India, a country of 1.3 billion people, imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns in March 2020, but had begun easing it in May as it grappled with economic fallout.

Over the past month, several states have reintroduced restrictions that were relaxed earlier, including closing educational institutions and restricting numbers at marriages and social functions.

Several states have made it mandatory for people flying in from the worst-affected regions to get tested before they travel.

India has the world's third largest caseload of Covid-19 cases after the United States and Brazil, but saw a consistent downward trend between October and mid-February.

Since then, a consistent rise has brought daily cases to 90,000. The fresh wave of the pandemic is spreading much faster.

The surge has been attributed to a variety of reasons, mainly what experts term "lockdown fatigue," leading people to lower safeguards as they throng marketplaces and festivals and attend social functions and sporting events.

The presence of several mutations of the virus, including the fast-spreading one originating in Britain, may have also contributed to the spread, experts say.

Big crowds at events like the current regional elections and the Kumbh festival in Uttarakhand are expected to lead to a further surge in cases.

The government has been widening its vaccination programme, which was opened to all people above 45 years of age from April 1.

Hospitals and clinics have been encouraged to carry out vaccinations around the clock.

More than 65 million people have received the first dose of the vaccine and another 10 million have received both. The government has a target of vaccinating 300 million people by August.