People in India are rushing unnecessarily to hospital, which is a major factor exacerbating the crisis caused by surging COVID-19 infections in the country, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Less than 15% of people infected with COVID-19 actually need hospital care and even fewer will need oxygen, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.

India's death toll is now pushing towards 200,000, and hospitals that do not have enough oxygen supplies and beds are turning away coronavirus patients.

The WHO is providing critical equipment and supplies to India, including 4,000 oxygen concentrators, which only require an energy source, Jasarevic said.

"Currently, part of the problem is that many people rush to the hospital (also because they do not have access to information/advice), even though home-based care monitoring at home can be managed very safely," he pointed out.

Community-level centres should screen and triage patients and provide advice on safe home care, while information is also made available via hotlines or dashboards, he said.

"As is true in any country, WHO has said the combination of relaxing of personal protective measures, mass gatherings and more contagious variants while vaccine coverage is still low can create a perfect storm," Jasarevic said.

Similarly AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria on Monday said: “Covid-19 is mild infection and 85-90 per cent people will only suffer from cold, fever, sore throat and bodyache. Only symptomatic treatment at home is enough to ride through these infections and there is no need for oxygen or Remdesivir.”

He went on to add that it was only 10 to 15 per cent of the patients, severely affected who need oxygen, Remdesivir or plasma etc, while less than five per cent patients need ventilators or intensive care.

“Hoarding of injections like Remdesivir and oxygen in homes is creating a panic and this hoarding is causing a shortage of these medicines,” Guleria.