Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to finalise an integrated standard operating procedure (SOP) for COVID control to ensure better coordination among states, an official release stated on Tuesday.

In a letter written to the Prime Minister, Gehlot said there is a lack of coordination among states regarding different strategies for COVID control, inter-state issues such as mandatory COVID-19 test for travel, lockdown, night curfew and functioning of educational institutions, due to which there is confusion and fear among the public.

There is a need for an integrated SOP to overcome this, he added.

Gehlot said there has been an "unprecedented" increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in almost all the states of the country including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan in the last one month. The COVID control needs to be made more effective, he said.

The number of new coronavirus cases in India hit a record daily high since the outbreak of the pandemic with over 1.15 lakh new infections being reported in a span of 24 hours, pushing the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,28,01,785, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The single-day rise in coronavirus cases breached the 1-lakh mark for the second time in three days. A total of 1,15,736 infections were reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 1,66,177 with 630 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

In the letter to the Prime Minister, Gehlot also suggested that the vaccination of people aged above 18 be started in the country, it said.

At present, India is vaccinating people aged above 45. In the first two phases of the vaccination drive, healthcare and frontline workers and people over 60 were inoculated.

However, in a significant development, India has surpassed the United States to become the fastest vaccinating country in the world with an average daily rate of 30,93,861 vaccine doses, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

According to the ministry, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 8.70 crores today with more than 33 lakh vaccination doses were administered in the last 24 hours.

As on day 81 of the vaccination drive on April 6, a total of 33,37,601 vaccine doses were given. Out of which, 30,08,087 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 41,396 sessions for 1st dose and 3,29,514 beneficiaries received 2nd dose of the vaccine.