Delhi

People have been advised to avoid non-essential travel and many have been working from home.

Some schools have closed early, or chosen not to open at all, while the extreme heat is putting pressure on the health service.

But countries where temperatures are usually higher have adapted their infrastructure and lifestyle to cope with the heat.

There is no extreme temperature threshold that forces Australian schools to shut. For some students, this knowledge can really melt your icy pole [ice lolly].

Hospitals in the city are in crisis, with intensive care beds full and an acute shortage of medical oxygen.

Delhi's government wants the army to run Covid care facilities and intensive care units.

Across India, case numbers since the start of the outbreak are closing in on 20 million.

The country has seen more than 300,000 new cases a day for nearly two weeks straight while deaths stand at 220,000.

Experts say total Covid cases and deaths in India are likely to be much higher, citing lack of testing and patients dying at home without being seen by doctors.

Staff are working around the clock, while parks and other empty spaces are also being utilised for cremations.

Families have had to wait hours before being allowed to cremate their dead due to the rise in demand.

Deaths have been surging in India as a second wave of infections devastates the country.

The rising number of deaths - 380 were recorded in Delhi alone on Monday - has left crematoriums in urgent need of space.

Government offices and essential services, such as hospitals, pharmacies and grocers, will be open during the lockdown, which starts on Monday night.

The city had imposed a weekend curfew, but reported its highest single-day spike so far on Sunday - 24,462 cases.

India has been reeling from a deadly second wave since the start of April.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the city had almost run out of beds at hospital intensive care units (ICUs) and that oxygen was in short supply.

The government said the shutdown would continue until Sunday night to "maintain public safety".

Tens of thousands of protesting farmers have been camped out on Delhi's outskirts for more than a month.

Talks between unions and the government have failed to break the deadlock.

The protest made international headlines on Tuesday when a tractor rally ended in violent clashes that left one protester dead and dozens of police officers injured. Some demonstrators stormed Delhi's historic Red Fort and occupied it until police pushed them back.

The girl is reportedly in a critical condition at a local hospital where she was brought in on Sunday.

Police told the media that they had arrested the 28-year-old accused, described as a daily wage worker.

Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal, who visited the infant in hospital on Monday night, described her injuries as "horrific".

The incident happened on Sunday but came to light on Monday after local media reported it.

Ms Maliwal tweeted that the girl had to undergo a three-hour operation.

In the first, police say a woman of 23 was gang-raped and murdered last week in Rohtak district - it took days for her mutilated body to be found. A post mortem showed her "skull was broken".

On Saturday a 22-year-old was gang-raped in a moving car in the Delhi suburb of Gurgaon, police say.

Activists say both attacks show women continue to be unsafe in India.

Residents in Sonipat district, where the Rohtak victim's family lives, found the woman's decomposing body after they noticed stray dogs around it.

More than 100 farmers from southern Tamil Nadu state had mounted an eye-catching protest in the capital, Delhi, more than a month ago.

They brandished human skulls, held live mice in their mouths, shaved their heads, and slashed their hands.

They were demanding waivers on farm loan repayments and relief funds, among other things.

Levels of PM10 particulates, considered hazardous to health, rose to 999 micrograms per cubic metre, way above the safe limit of 100.

Authorities had warned that Delhi was in for a polluted Diwali due to factors like humidity and wind speed.

Fire crackers are regularly set off during Diwali but worsen air quality.

Delhi's local government announced last week that it would install air purifiers near roads in an effort to cut the effects of air pollution.

Asha Singh told a crowd on Wednesday that she felt "no shame" in announcing her daughter's name: "Her name was Jyoti Singh."

The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died after being brutally raped by six men on a moving bus in 2012, causing global outrage.