PM Imran Khan hopes former Indian premier recovers from COVID-19 soon

Prime Minister Imran Khan has extended warm wishes and hoped the former Indian premier Manmohan Singh recovers soon from coronavirus.

The former premier had tested positive for coronavirus yesterday and was admitted to the trauma centre of All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Delhi, Indian media reported.

"Wishing ex-Indian PM Manmohan Singh a speedy recovery from Covid 19," the premier said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, Indian politician Rahul Gandhi has also tested positive for coronavirus and is isolating at home.

According to a tweet by the Congress lawmaker, he is currently feeling mild symptoms of the virus. He urged all those who had remained in contact with him over the past few days to follow all safety precautions.

"After experiencing mild symptoms, I've just tested positive for COVID. All those who've been in contact with me recently, please follow all safety protocols and stay safe," Rahul Gandhi, 50, wrote.

India locks capital to battle COVID-19

Yesterday, India locked down its capital New Delhi for a week seeking to control a raging coronavirus outbreak.

India is still facing skyrocketing infections, with hospitals running out of beds and the government forced to reimpose economically painful restrictions.

The capital New Delhi braced for a fresh lockdown as officials scrambled to get surging cases under control.

"Delhi's health system is at a tipping point. The COVID-19 situation is pretty critical," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.

"If we don't impose a lockdown now, we will be looking at a bigger disaster."

Tens of thousands of migrant workers tried to flee the restrictions, fuelling fears they could spread the virus to their rural hometowns

The Delhi lockdown came after the vast nation of 1.3 billion reported a record high of 273,810 infections on Monday — the fifth consecutive day topping 200,000 cases.

India has the world's second-highest caseload with more than 15 million known infections.

The government said Monday it would make COVID-19 vaccines available to all adults in the country from May 1, in a bid to beat back infections.

The soaring cases forced British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to cancel a planned visit to the country this month, and Britain said Monday it would add India to its travel "red list", banning all arrivals from India except for UK or Irish nationals.

— Additional input from AFP