New Delhi, Apr 18 (IANS): Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Sunday lashed out at the government for making claims 'contrary to the reality' in the country.

Chidambaram tweeted, "While "no vaccine" boards hang on the door of most hospitals, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan claims that "there is no shortage in the supply of vaccines".

"Believe the minister, there is no shortage of vaccines, oxygen, Remdisvir, hospital beds, doctors and nurses. There is only a shortage of patients!"

He also attacked the Prime Minister and said, "Thank you Prime Minister for sparing a little time for Covid amidst the urgent war to conquer W BENGAL and annexe it to the BJP's empire."

Chidambaram attack comes after the country reported 2,61,500 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day spike ever, pushing the country's overall Covid tally to 1,47,88,109, according to the Health Ministry data released on Sunday.

This is the fourth consecutive day that the country has registered over two lakh Covid cases. India recorded 2,34,692 cases were reported on Saturday, 2,00,739 and 2,17,353 cases on Thursday and Friday respectively.

Meanwhile, 1,501 people died of Covid in the last 24 hours, taking the country's death toll to 1,77,150 so far.