With Covid-19 cases surging to record levels, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing growing pressure to impose a harsh nationwide lockdown amid a debate on whether curbs imposed by individual states are enough. On Friday, India registered a new record of 4,14,188 cases in a span of 24 hours and 3,915 deaths. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court made clear to the Centre that it will have to supply 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi every day till its order is modified. Modi has so far left the responsibility for fighting the deadly virus to state governments, many of whom are poorly equipped. 

Many medical experts, opposition leaders and some Supreme Court judges have suggested the lockdown seems to be the only option with the virus raging in cities and towns, where hospitals are forced to turn patients away while relatives scramble to find oxygen. Crematoriums and burial grounds are struggling to handle the dead.