As the death toll mounts, the night skies in some Indian cities glow from the pyres. Experts believe the official tally vastly under-estimates the actual toll in the country of 1.3 billion, with populous states such as Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat accused of undercounting Covid-19 fatalities and cases. A further 3,293 deaths, the deadliest day so far, took the death toll to 201,187. In the past 24 hours, 360,960 new cases were recorded, the largest single-day total in the world, taking India’s total to nearly 18 million. The second wave has seen at least 300,000 people a day test positive for the past week, overwhelming healthcare facilities and crematoriums and driving an increasingly urgent international response. India’s Covid-19 death toll surged past 200,000 on Wednesday as shortages of oxygen, medical supplies and hospital staff compounded a record number of new cases of the virus.

Workers are seen constructing makeshift platforms for funeral pyres in a park inside the premises of a crematorium in Delhi Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images