Coronavirus LIVE: Fight is to save India from complete lockdown, says PM

Coronavirus live updates: As more states went for lockdown-like restrictions to battle the raging second Covid-19 wave, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday stressed that use of lockdown should be the "last resort" and that the focus should rather be on micro-containment zones.

Modi's remarks in his address to the nation where he also said the second wave has become a major crisis came on a day when India's active Covid-19 cases crossed 2 million after 2,59,170 new coronavirus infections and a record 1,761 new fatalities.

"In the current situation, we need to save our country from a lockdown. I would also request states to use the lockdown as the last resort. We have to do our best to avoid a lockdown and our focus should rather be on micro-containment zones," he said.

Meanwhile, in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal said that hospitals are facing severe shortage of oxygen and requested the Centre for supply as soon as possibe. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said that many hospitals in the capital are just down to hours of oxygen.

India reported a slight decline of 259,170 in the number of fresh coronavirus cases on Tuesday, but saw highest-ever single-day spike in Covid-related deaths with 1,761 fatalities.

World coronavirus update: Coronavirus cases rise unabated across the globe with 142,685,761 infected by the deadly contagion. While 121,399,094 have recovered, 3,042,834 have died so far. The US remains the worst-hit country with 32,149,181, followed by India, Brazil, France and Russia. However, in the past seven days, India has added the highest number of fresh cases at 1,532,388, followed by the US (493,159) and Brazil (460,528).