India's Covid-19 cases soared by over 20,000 in a day for the first time taking the country's total tally to 6,25,544 on Friday, while the death toll climbed to 18,213 with 379 new fatalities, according to the Union health ministry data.

The country recorded 20,903 coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours till Friday 8 am, with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi,Telangana and Karnataka being the major contributors to the single day rise.

The number of recoveries stands at 3,79,891 ,while one patient has migrated. There are 2,27,439 active cases of coronavirus infections presently in the country.

"Thus, around 60.73 per cent of patients have recovered so far," an official said.

The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners.

There has been a surge of 4,35,009 Covid-19 cases from June 1 till date.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 92,97,749 samples have been tested up to July 2 with 2,41,576 samples being tested on Thursday.

Of the 379 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 125 are from Maharashtra, 61 from Delhi, 57 from Tamil Nadu, 19 each from Gujarat and Karnataka, 17 from Uttar Pradesh, 16 from West Bengal, 11 from Haryana, 10 from Jammu and Kashmir, nine from Rajasthan, eight each from Telangana and Madhya Pradesh, seven from Bihar, five from Andhra Pradesh, three from Punjab, two from Puducherry and one each from Kerala and Uttarakhand.

Of the total 18,213 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 8,178 fatalities followed by Delhi with 2,864 deaths, Gujarat with 1,886, Tamil Nadu with 1,321, Uttar Pradesh with 735, West Bengal with 699, Madhya Pradesh with 589, Rajasthan with 430 and Telangana with 275 deaths.

The Covid-19 death toll reached 272 in Karnataka, 251 in Haryana, 198 in Andhra Pradesh, 152 in Punjab, 115 in Jammu and Kashmir, 77 in Bihar, 42 in Uttarakhand, 27 in Odisha and 25 in Kerala.

Jharkhand has registered 15 deaths, Chhattisgarh 14, Assam and Puducherry 12 each, Himachal Pradesh 10, Chandigarh six, Goa four 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 1,86,626, followed by Tamil Nadu at 98,392, Delhi at 92,175, Gujarat at 33,913, Uttar Pradesh at 24,825, West Bengal at 19,819 and Rajasthan at 18,662 according to the ministry data.

The number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 18,570 in Telangana, 18,016 in Karnataka, 16,097 in Andhra Pradesh, 15,509 in Haryana, and 14,106 in Madhya Pradesh.

It has risen to 10,471 in Bihar, 9,013 in Assam, 7,849 in Jammu and Kashmir and 7,545 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 5,784 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 4,753 cases.

A total of 3,013 have been infected by the virus in Chhattisgarh, 2,984 in Uttarakhand, 2,584 in Jharkhand, 1,435 in Tripura, 1,482 in Goa, 1,279 in Manipur, 1,014 in Himachal Pradesh and 990 in Ladakh.

Puducherry has recorded 802 Covid-19 cases, Nagaland 501, Chandigarh 450 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 230 Covid-19 cases.

Arunachal Pradesh reported 195 cases, Mizoram has 162 cases, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 109, Sikkim has registered 102 infections so far, while Meghalaya has recorded 56 cases.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said, adding that 6,031 cases are being reassigned to states.

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

Arunachal reports highest 1-day spike

Arunachal Pradesh reported its highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases on Friday after 37 more people, including an NDRF staffer, tested positive for the disease, taking the state's tally of coronavirus patients to 232, a senior health official said.

Of the fresh cases, 34 were reported from the state capital here, two from Changlang and one from Namsai district, Surveillance Officer Dr L Jampa said.

"All the cases were detected in quarantine centres and they were asymptomatic," he said.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) staffer does not have any travel history but was in a quarantine centre in the state capital as he came in contact with three other personnel of the force, who had earlier tested positive for the disease, Jampa said.

"Of the new patients, 36 had come to the state from Assam, Bihar, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Kerala, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka," he said.

All the infected people were shifted to Covid care centres, Jampa added.

Arunachal Pradesh now has 160 active coronavirus cases, while 71 people have recovered from the disease and a person has died of it.

Doctors and hospital staff stand inside a blood plasma bank that was inaugurated Thursday in New Delhi, Thursday, July 2, 2020. AP

97-year-old dies in Puducherry

A 97-year-old woman died of Covid-19, while 24 new cases were reported, taking the toll to 13 and the infection tally to 824 in Puducherry on Friday, the government said.

The woman died at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical college (IGGMC) hospital on Thursday, a government bulletin said, giving details of coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, ended at 10am.

A total of 633 samples were tested, of which 24 turned out to be positive, taking the total number of cases to 824.

The active cases stood at 427, while 384 patients have been discharged so far, the bulletin said.

The 24 patients were admitted to hospitals in Puducherry and Karaikal and among them three were aged less than 18 years, while the others were in the 18-60 age group, it said.

Health minister Malladi Krishna Rao told reporters through video conferencing that 17,645 of the total of 18,791 samples tested had turned out to be negative.

The results of the other samples were awaited, he said.

Get tested ahead of Assembly session: Goa Speaker

Ahead of the monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, Speaker Rajesh Patnekar has appealed to all the MLAs to get themselves tested for the Covid-19 infection.

Patnekar told reporters on Thursday the MLAs should get tested themselves for Covid-19 as they are on the field, mixing with people and serving them.

His statement comes two days after a BJP MLA tested positive for the coronavirus infection. The South Goa-based MLA is currently being treated at ESI Hospital in Margao town.

It is better for the MLAs to undergo test as they often rush to places where Covid-19 cases are detected. I sincerely appeal to all MLAs to get tested, Patnekar said.

The monsoon session of the assembly is scheduled to commence from July 27.