India's daily Covid-19 positivity rate doubles from 8% to 16.69% in 12 days

Delhi chief minister Arvid Kejriwal termed the Covid-19 situation in the national capital as "very serious", and wrote to PM Modi Modi on Sunday seeking help for beds and oxygen for coronavirus patients.

The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continues to spread fast across India. The country has been making records in terms of single-day rise in cases. On Sunday, 261,500 new Covid-19 cases and 1,501 related deaths were recorded in a span of 24 hours, according to Union health ministry.

People wait to receive Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in Mumbai on Sunday. (AP Photo)

The positivity rate in the country has also increased at a fast pace, raising concerns for the experts.

"The daily positivity rate in the last 12 days has doubled from 8% to 16.69%," the health ministry said in a statement. "The national weekly positivity rate has increased from 3.05% to 13.54% in the last one month."

Chhattisgarh reported the highest weekly positivity rate at 30.38 per cent, followed by Goa at 24.24 per cent, Maharashtra at 24.17 per cent, Rajasthan at 23.33 per cent and Madhya Pradesh at 18.99 per cent, the ministry further said.

Concerned by the surge in cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked authorities to pull out all the stops to ramp up production of Covid-19 vaccines.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, criticised PM Modi for addressing large election rallies to help Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win the state assembly election in West Bengal.

The nation of 1.3 billion people has been hit by a new wave that has caused one million positive tests in a week.

"I haven't seen such a rise in cases in the last one year as I've seen in the last one week," Delhi-based book publicist Tanu Dogra, 28, who was bedridden for a week after testing positive in March told news agency AFP.

Authorities in various states have imposed weekend lockdowns and night curfews to stem the virus spread.