India’s main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi warned yesterday that unless the deadly second Covid-19 wave sweeping the country was brought under control it would devastate India as well as threaten the rest of the world.

In a letter, Mr Gandhi implored Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prepare for another national lockdown, accelerate a countrywide vaccination programme and scientifically track the virus and its mutations.

Mr Gandhi said the world’s second-most populous nation had a responsibility in “a globalised and interconnected world” to stop the “explosive” growth of Covid-19 within its borders.

“India is home to one out of every six human beings on the planet.

"The pandemic has demonstrated that our size, genetic diversity and complexity make India fertile ground for the virus to rapidly mutate, transforming itself into a more contagious and more dangerous form,” wrote Mr Gandhi.

“Allowing the uncontrollable spread of the virus in our country will be devastating not only for our people but also for the rest of the world.”

India’s highly infectious Covid-19 variant B.1.617 has already spread to other countries, and many nations have moved to cut or restrict movements from India.

The government has been reluctant to impose a second lockdown for fear of the damage to the economy, though many states have announced their own restrictions.

In the past week, India has reported an extra 1.5 million new infections and record daily death tolls.

Since the start of the pandemic, it has reported 21.49 million cases and 234,083 deaths. It currently has 3.6 million active cases.

Reuters