With 18,522 people testing positive for coronavirus in a single day, India's Covid-19 tally climbed to 5,66,840 on Tuesday while the death toll rose to 16,893 with 418 new fatalities, according to the Union health ministry data.

Recording nearly 4,000 cases in the last 24 hours, Tamil Nadu has surpassed Delhi to regain the second spot among the list of worst-hit states by the pandemic, while Karnataka also recorded more than 1,100 overtaking Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.

Maharashtra remained the highest contributor to the single day rise, registering over 5,200 coronavirus infections. Delhi saw an increase of 2,084 cases.

The number of active cases stands at 2,15,125, while 3,34,821 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated, according to the updated data at 8am.

"Thus, around 59.07 per cent of patients have recovered so far," an official said.

The total number of confirmed cases includes foreigners.

This is the seventh consecutive day that coronavirus infections have increased by more than 15,000. The country has seen a surge of 3,76,305 infections from June 1 till date.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 86,08,654 samples have been tested up to June 29 with 2,10,292 samples been tested on Monday.

Of the 418 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 181 are from Maharashtra, 62 from Tamil Nadu, 57 from Delhi, 19 each from Gujarat and Karnataka, 14 from West Bengal, 12 from Uttar Pradesh, 11 from Andhra Pradesh, nine from Haryana, seven from Madhya Pradesh, six each from Rajasthan and Telangana, five from Punjab, three from Jharkhand, two each from Bihar and Odisha and one each from Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

Of the total 16,893 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 7,610 fatalities followed by Delhi with 2,680 deaths, Gujarat with 1,827, Tamil Nadu with 1,141, Uttar Pradesh with 672, West Bengal with 653, Madhya Pradesh with 564, Rajasthan with 405 and Telangana with 253 deaths.

The Covid-19 death toll reached 232 in Haryana, 226 in Karnataka, 180 in Andhra Pradesh, 138 in Punjab, 95 in Jammu and Kashmir, 62 in Bihar, 39 in Uttarakhand, 23 in Odisha and 22 in Kerala.

Jharkhand has registered 15 deaths, Chhattisgarh 13, Assam 11, Puducherry 10, Himachal Pradesh nine, Chandigarh six, Goa three and Meghalaya, Tripura, Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh have reported one fatality each, according to the Health Ministry.

More than 70 per cent deaths took place due to comorbidities, it said.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 1,69,883, followed by Tamil Nadu at 86,224, Delhi at 85,161, Gujarat at 31,938, Uttar Pradesh at 22,828, West Bengal at 17,907 and Rajasthan at 17,660, according to the ministry data.

The number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 15,394 in Telangana, 14,295 in Karnataka, 14,210 in Haryana, 13,891 in Andhra Pradesh, and 13,370 in Madhya Pradesh.

It has risen to 9,640 in Bihar, 7,752 in Assam, 7,237 in Jammu and Kashmir and 6,859 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 5,418 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 4,189 cases.

A total of 2,831 people have been infected by the virus in Uttarakhand, 2,761 in Chhattisgarh, 2,426 in Jharkhand, 1,380 in Tripura, 1,227 in Manipur, 1,198 in Goa, 964 in Ladakh and 942 in Himachal Pradesh.

Puducherry has recorded 619 Covid-19 cases, Chandigarh 435, Nagaland 434 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 203 Covid-19 cases.

Arunachal Pradesh reported 187 cases, Mizoram has 148 cases, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 90, Sikkim has registered 88 infections so far, while Meghalaya has recorded 47 cases.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said, adding that 7,004 cases are being reassigned to states.

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.

The usually busy GS Road wears a deserted during total lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, in Guwahati, Tuesday, June 30, 2020. PTI

FIR against SP leaders, others

An FIR has been lodged against five Samajwadi Party leaders, including a former minister, and over 40 unidentified people for allegedly violating prohibitory orders imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The FIR was filed after SP workers took out a protest march against the sub divisional magistrate from Sikandarpur to the district headquarter over an issue pertaining to land.

"Named FIR has been registered against five SP leaders including former minister Muhammad Ziadduin Rizvi, SP district President Rajmangal Yadav, former MLA Sangram Singh Yadav and 35-45 unidentified persons on Monday under relevant sections of the IPC and Epidemic Act for violating lockdown prohibitory orders," SHO, city police station, Vipin Singh, said.

Bhubaneswar civic body asks hospitals to lodge staff on campus

As several health care workers and staff of private hospitals staying in different slums were detected with Covid-19, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked the hospital authorities to ensure that they were lodged in their campuses.

As a precautionary measure, the BMC on Monday ordered the private hospitals and nursing homes to ensure that their staff do not make frequent visit to their residence in the slums.

Frequent movement of hospital staff to slum areas poses a risk of spread of the virus, the BMC said in its order, adding that in a bid to obviate this possible risk, the hospital authorities must take measures.

"All private hospitals/nursing homes shall maintain an exclusive employees' database who are residing in slum areas of BMC. The employees of the slum areas need to be kept in a shift for 14 days and the hospital authorities will arrange their accommodation within the hospital premises," the BMC order said.

It also mentioned that after the 14 days shift, the set of employees will be relieved from their duties after their Covid testing and negative report. This process will continue on a rotation basis, it said.

"About one-third of the population of BMC area is staying in slum areas and social distancing is practically not possible because of small houses and high population density.

Frequent movement of hospital staff to slum areas poses a risk of spread of the virus," a BMC statement said.

Meanwhile, with Covid-19 cases in the state capital crossing the 300-mark, the BMC said unplanned and unauthorised houses, the demographic profile, unhygienic conditions, lack of civic amenities and limited social awareness make the over 800 slums with around 4 lakh people the most vulnerable areas for penetration and spread of the coronavirus.