India is staring at coronavirus pandemic second wave which may turn out to be worse than the first one, officials feared yesterday, as the country stepped up inoculation drive amid record number of cases.  

It was noted during a high-level meeting presided by Indian Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba that the current Covid case growth rate of 6.8 percent in March this year has surpassed the previous record of 5.5 percent in June last year, reported our New Delhi corrspondent.

The country also reported 5.5 percent growth rate in daily Covid deaths in this period.

While India was reporting about 97,000 daily new Covid cases at the peak of the pandemic in September last year, the country has already reached the critical figure 81,000 daily new cases.

With coronavirus cases surging, India has ramped up its vaccination drive with more than 36.7 lakh people taking the jab in a single day, as global surge in infections brought new restrictions.

The record setting numbers came on a day when India reported 81,466 fresh cases, the highest daily number in six months. In the last 24 hours, eight states -- Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh -- recorded a sharp surge in the daily new cases, together contributing 81.25 percent of the new cases.

In the last 76 days since the inoculation programme began, India has administered more than 68.7 million vaccine doses, Indian Health Ministry said. India plans to ramp up daily vaccination coverage to five million, R S Sharma, CEO of National Health Authority, said.

Europe is also struggling to stop dramatic surges in infections, as the World Health Organization warned Thursday that its sluggish vaccination drive was prolonging a pandemic that has already claimed more than 2.8 million lives worldwide.

Many European Union nations are reeling from dramatic spikes in cases that have forced the reimposition of unpopular restrictions, including in Belgium where police used water cannon to disperse thousands who had gathered in violation of Covid-19 rules.

Only 10 percent of Europe's total population has received one vaccine dose, and four percent have received two, according to the WHO.

Spikes in South America have reached alarming levels, fuelled by a more contagious variant first detected in Brazil, as Chile closed all borders, Bolivia sealed its frontier with Brazil, and Peru went into a lockdown over Easter.

Intensive care units in Chile are close to capacity, and authorities are trying to speed up vaccinations in a bid to stem the spread of Covid-19.

Neighboring Peru started a four-day national lockdown for the Easter weekend as it recorded its highest number of new cases since the start of the pandemic.

Brazil is the epicentre of the coronavirus wave sweeping South America, reporting a staggering 66,500 Covid-19 deaths in March alone.

In Asia, The Philippines yesterday reported a daily record 15,310 new coronavirus infections, one of the highest reported in the region since the pandemic started, bringing the country's total to 771,497 cases.

It announced 17 new deaths, taking fatalities to 13,320 deaths. The Department of Health said the new cases reported yesterday included a backlog of 3,709 cases. The previous record was just over 10,000 new cases.