The Centre on Saturday wrote to all states and Union territories to "take immediate stock of their healthcare infrastructure," according to hindustantimes.com.

"Apart from adding more beds to hospitals, ramping up health care facilities, the states have been asked to check their oxygen availability, in a note of caution," hindustantimes.com added.

The world is currently reporting the highest ever surge in Covid-19 cases, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote in his letter.

"In the context of the spread of Variant of Concern omicron, the world is currently reporting the highest ever surge in Covid-19 cases. In India, the case trajectory is also showcasing an upward trend with 16,764 cases reported on December 31, the highest ever single-day rise in the past 70 days. Many developed nations in Europe and the Americas are reporting a significant rise in new cases in the past few weeks, which indicates high transmissibility of the virus," the secretary added.

"The health infrastructure may soon start getting stressed as there is a sudden increase in cases, the Centre added.

Keeping this in mind, Centre has asked states to create makeshift hospitals. States may also utilise hotel accommodations for patients having mild to moderate symptoms, as it was done during the earlier surges in some states, it said.

India saw a single-day rise of 22,775 new Covid -19 cases, the highest since October 6, while the number of active cases surpassed one lakh and omicron infection tally reached 1,431, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

India logged 161 fresh omicron infections, taking the total tally of such cases in the country to 1,431.

Of the 1,431 patients infected with the omicron variant of the virus so far, 374 have either recuperated or migrated, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.

The country also recorded 22,775 fresh Covid -19 cases and 406 more fatalities due to the viral disease.

Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of 454 new cases followed by Delhi at 351, Kerala 118 and Gujarat 115.

The fresh cases raised India's tally of Covid -19 cases to 3,48,61,579, while the active cases increased to 1,04,781, according to the latest data.

The death toll from the pandemic climbed to 4,81,080 with 406 new fatalities, the data stated.

A total of 22, 431 new coronavirus infections were reported in a span of 24 hours last on October 6 while the active cases were recorded above one lakh last on November 30 when 1,00,543 such infections were registered.

Delhi recorded 2,716 fresh Covid cases, highest since May 21, one death and the positivity rate mounted to 3.64 per cent.

An increase of 13,420 cases has been recorded in the active Covid -19 case count in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.05 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.10 per cent.

The number of patients who have recuperated has gone up to 3,42,75,312, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.38 per cent.

The cumulative number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far has exceeded 145 crore.

India's Covid -19 tally crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020; 30 lakh on August 23; 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28; 70 lakh on October 11; 80 lakh on October 29; 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19 last year.