India's most coronavirus-hit state Maharashtra went into a weekend lockdown as the country battles exploding infection numbers and vaccine shortages.

Having let its guard down with mass religious festivals, political rallies and spectators at cricket matches, the world's second most populous nation has added more than a million new infections since late March, AFP reports.

Many states are tightening the screw, in particular the epicentre Maharashtra and its capital Mumbai, where restaurants are shut and public gatherings of more than five people are banned. Every weekend from Saturday until the end of April the state's 125 million people are confined to their homes unless shopping for food, medicine or travelling.

Meanwhile, India's drive to vaccinate its 1.3 billion people also looks to be hitting problems, with just 94 million shots provided so far and stocks running low.