Covid 19 coronavirus: India's capital New Delhi to lock down as cases top 15 million

People wait to board trains at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, India on April 14. Photo / AP

India's capital New Delhi is being put under a week-long lockdown as an explosive surge in coronavirus cases pushes the city's health system to its limit.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said at a news conference today that New Delhi was facing shortages of oxygen and some medicine.

"I do not say that the system has collapsed, but it has reached its limits," Kejriwal said, adding that harsh measures were necessary to "prevent a collapse of the health system".

According to India's health ministry, Delhi reported 25,462 cases and 161 deaths in the past 24 hours.

India overall reported 273,810 new infections today - its highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic - and now has reported more than 15 million infections, a total second only to the United States.

The Health Ministry also reported 1619 deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing the toll over 178,769.

India has the fourth-highest number of deaths after the US, Brazil and Mexico — though, with nearly 1.4 billion people, it has a much larger population than any of those countries.

The soaring cases and deaths come just months after India thought it had seen the worst of the pandemic, but experts say even these figures are likely an undercount.

Similar virus curbs already have been imposed in the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, home to India's financial capital, Mumbai. The closure of most industries, businesses and public places on Wednesday night (local time) is to last 15 days.