India saw 62,714 new coronavirus infections in a day, the highest single day rise so far this year, taking the nationwide Covid-19 tally to 1,19,71,624, while the daily deaths crossed the 300-mark for the first time in 2021.

Registering a steady increase for the 18th day in row, active cases have increased to 4,86,310 comprising 4.06% of the total infections. The recovery rate has further dropped to 94.58%, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated yesterday.

The 62,714 new cases were reported in a span of 24 hours, the highest in 163 days, while the death toll increased to 1,61,552 with 312 daily new fatalities, the highest in around three months, the data showed.

Maharashtra recorded over 35,000 fresh cases for the third day in a row although the count was slightly lower than Friday's record surge of 36,902.

Authorities in the state imposed night curfews yesterday to tackle a record surge in cases with the financial capital Mumbai reporting 6,123 new cases, the highest single-day spike since March last year.

"We are seeing a higher Covid positive rate in high-rise residential buildings than in slums...to stop the spread only essential services will be allowed," said Kishor Pednekar, the mayor of Mumbai adding that hotels, pubs and shopping malls must observe the night curfew rules.

Several government hospitals reported they were running out of critical-care beds in Mumbai city.

While Maharashtra leads the surge, several other states - Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh - are also seeing a rise in cases.

In parts of the country, especially Delhi and Mumbai, authorities have imposed bans or restrictions on the Hindu festival of Holi and the Muslim "day of forgiveness", Shab-e-Baraat, which are both observed over this weekend.

Holi is usually celebrated with large gatherings in which people smear each other with colour, while Muslim men typically hold large prayer gatherings at mosques on Shab-e-Barat.

Many Indians have started questioning the government's highly publicised vaccine exports campaign when only a fraction of the country's population has been inoculated.

India has supplied 61 million vaccine doses to as many as 77 countries as part of both grants and commercial arrangements.

Officials in the health ministry in New Delhi said the government had decided to focus on its domestic vaccination programme following a spike in Covid-19 cases and there will be no immediate expansion of vaccine exports.

Experts said more than 40 million people in India have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine so far, but that is less than 4% of the country's 1.35 billion population.

"The vaccination drive has to be scaled up massively, and test and trace and isolation protocols have to be strengthened across the country," said S K Sinha, a health ministry official.

Meanwhile, a World Health Organization (WHO)-backed programme to supply coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries expects that the Serum Institute of India (SII) will resume full deliveries of the AstraZeneca shot to it in May, Unicef said on Saturday.

"Deliveries of SII/AZ vaccine are expected to begin fully again by May, with catch-up deliveries to reach every participant's full allocation up to May, accelerating thereafter," a Unicef spokeswoman told Reuters in an email.

The spokeswoman added that the programme, known as Covax, was in talks with New Delhi to secure "some supply" in April too. Covax was expecting a total of 90 million doses from SII in March and April, of which it has received about 28 million.

Unicef is the distributing partner of the programme, run with the GAVI vaccine alliance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday called on his fellow citizens to get inoculated against the coronavirus, as Russia's vaccination rollout remains sluggish and vaccine scepticism in the population remains high.

Speaking on Kremlin-controlled television, the Russian leader -- who received a jab a few days ago -- said that getting vaccinated was "needed, even necessary".

Pope Francis led Palm Sunday services in an almost empty St Peter's Basilica because of coronavirus restrictions for the second consecutive year and said the devil is taking advantage of the pandemic.

"Last year we were shocked. This year we are more under pressure and the economic crisis has become heavy," Francis said in his traditional address after the Mass.

France's inoculation drive has been criticised as slow, with 11.45 percent of French people having received one or more jabs, compared with 43.79 percent of Britons, reports AFP.

France will have caught up with Britain on the number of people vaccinated against Covid-19 "in a few weeks", President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview yesterday amid a row with Britain over vaccine access.