The health ministry said the 10 million landmark was passed on Friday, beating the country's previous daily record of 9.2 million. The government has been stung by criticism after a brutal coronavirus wave in April and May killed more than 200,000 people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the milestone as a "momentous feat" for the nation of 1.3 billion people.

"Kudos to those getting vaccinated and those making the vaccination drive a success," he said on Twitter.

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"Our hospitals do not have space for fresh admissions," said Bishop Jose Chittooparambil of Rajkot in Gujarat state in western India, one of the worst-affected regions.

India has been reporting more than 150,000 new cases daily since the start of April. Deaths are averaging of 800 a day. This comes amid reports of a lack of hospital facilities, including oxygen supplies.

"Now the situation in many parts of the country is such that hospitals are full and ordinary people have no one to look for other than God," said a health worker in a Catholic hospital in Madhya Pradesh.

Many have died without getting treatment, some literality on the road, he said.

In major Indian cities, "Catholic hospitals with Covid-19 wards are full and we have practically no space for fresh admissions," said Father George Kannanthanam, national secretary of the Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI).

CHAI is an umbrella body that coordinates the activities of 3,537 institutions, including 300 hospitals, five medical colleges, small clinics and other dispensaries.

These facilities, mostly in small towns and villages, have more than 50,000 beds at any given time. CHAI offered its facilities to the government in the first outbreak of the virus.

Archbishop Thomas Macwan of Gandhinagar in Gujarat's state capital was admitted to church-run Christ Hospital in Rajkot, 230 kilometers away. His city had no hospital beds available.

"The situation is very bad here. Our hospital beds reserved for Covid patients are full. We are trying to add more beds to accommodate critical patients," Bishop Chittooparambil said.

Many Catholic hospitals across India have been converted to Covid-19 hospitals as the governments wanted, Father Kannathanam told UCA News.

"What we find now is that people have lost their confidence, unlike in the previous spell, and what we need to do is to motivate them to fight back again," the priest added.

"The situation seems to be more critical than the earlier outbreak, and we can defeat it only with strong willpower."

Sources

UCA News