New Delhi

India reported its biggest-ever spike of nearly 2,95,041 fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday. With this, India's Covid tally has scaled to 15,616,130 cases. India also registered the highest-ever single-day spike in Covid-related deaths with 2,023 fatalities. The death toll from the deadly infection stands at 182,570. The country now has over 2.1 million active cases.

The rise in case numbers has been exponential in the second wave. Badly-affected cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Bhopal, Kolkata, Allahabad and Surat have almost run out of hospital beds. The situation is much more dire when it comes to ICU beds. Several cities have just a few dozen ICU beds left and they are now frantically trying to build extra capacity in hotels and stadiums. Multiple government hospitals in Delhi on Tuesday said their oxygen stock would last only for only few hours and “people will die” if they do not get oxygen. A list shared by the government showed that in some hospitals, oxygen will last only for four to five hours. With 277 new deaths in last 24 hours, Delhi's death toll from Covid-19 now stands at 12,638. The national capital recorded 28,395 new Covid-19 cases in highest single-day spike.

Meanwhile, according to media reports, CM Uddhav Thackeray is likely to take a call on lockdown in Maharashtra. would announce a decision on Wednesday. The state recorded 62,097 new cases and 519 deaths.