New Delhi (TIP): India on Saturday, May 8, recorded 401,078 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases and 4,187 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload and death toll to 21,892,676 and 238,270 respectively, according to the Union health ministry’s dashboard.

India is currently seeing a tsunami of cases and deaths under the deadlier second wave of the Covid-19 disease pandemic. According to the Union health ministry, 10 states including Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi reported 71.81% of the new cases seen on Friday.

Karnataka, which is the second worst hit state from the pandemic has recorded over 1.8 million cases so far. On Friday, Karnataka saw the highest single-day jump in daily deaths at 592 while 48,791 more people were found out to be positive for Covid-19. The state will be placed under a complete lockdown from from 6 am on May 10 to 6 am on May 24 to curb the spread of the disease, chief minister BS Yediyurappa announced on Friday.

Maharashtra, meanwhile, witnessed a dip in its daily tally on Friday after 54,022 new cases were reported, taking the caseload to 4,996,758 including 74,413 deaths and 4,265,326 recoveries. The Centre pointed out on Friday that Maharashtra along with Delhi, Uttarakhand and other states is showing early signs of plateauing or decrease in daily infections.

While the Indian government has so far resisted calls for another national lockdown, states have stepped up restrictions including localized lockdowns and curfews. But health-care experts are worried that the pandemic is now spreading into small towns and villages, where the health infrastructure is not advanced enough to support a surge in cases.

The second wave began in February but cases rose at an alarming rate starting in April. The World Health Organization has said that the sharp rise in infections may be partly due to multiple mutated versions of the virus circulating in the country, including the local B.1.617 variant and the B.1.1.7 variant that was detected in the U.K.

But, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has drawn criticism for allowing large crowds to gather for religious festivals and election rallies throughout the country earlier this year and then leaving the bulk of responsibility for fighting the outbreak to state governments. India’s hospitals are overwhelmed and facing shortages of beds, medical oxygen and medication to treat Covid-19 patients.

India’s Supreme Court reportedly told the central government to start preparing for an anticipated third wave of outbreak and revamp its formula to distribute oxygen across the country. That comes a day after the top court gave the government 24 hours to formulate a plan to meet Delhi’s oxygen requirement.