India’s daily Covid deaths and infections hit new records , but doctors and bereaved families have warned that even these bleak official statistics are seriously underestimating the scale of the country’s tragedy.

As a court in Delhi said India is facing not just a second wave but a “tsunami”, and hospitals had to turn patients away as they ran out of both beds and oxygen, people in many parts of India are still avoiding testing or struggling to access it.

International efforts are under way to help India as the country suffers critical oxygen shortages amid a devastating surge in Covid cases.

The UK has begun sending ventilators and oxygen concentrator devices. EU members are also due to send aid.

The US is lifting a ban on sending raw materials abroad, enabling India to make more of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

India's capital Delhi has extended its lockdown as overcrowded hospitals continue to turn patients away.

The government has approved plans for more than 500 oxygen generation plants across the country to boost supplies.

Meanwhile neighbouring Bangladesh has announced that it will close its border with India from Monday to prevent the spread of the virus.

In the backdrop of the oxygen crisis and high Covid-19 positivity rate, the lockdown in Delhi has been extended by another week. 

US to export vaccine raw material, deploy expert team to help India after NSA Doval's call with counterpart.

Following a phone call between NSA Ajit Doval and his American counterpart, the US has decided to export raw material required by Indian vaccine makers and deploy a team of experts to help India tide over the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.