A policeman wearing a mask as a protection against the coronavirus keeps guard outside a half-closed shop in Srinagar, Tuesday, June 9, 2020. AP

India registered over 9,500 Covid-19 cases for the sixth day in a row and 279 fatalities in the last 24 hours till Wednesday 8 am, pushing the country's Covid-19 tally to 2,76,583 and death toll to 7,745, the Union Health Ministry said.

The country is the fifth worst-hit nation by the Covid-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil, Russia and the UK, according to data issued by the Johns Hopkins University.

The number of active cases in the country stands at 1,33,632, while 1,35,205 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.

'Thus, 48.99 per cent of the patients have recovered so far,' it said.

The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners.

Of the 279 new deaths reported, 120 were in Maharashtra, 33 in Gujarat, 31 in Delhi, 21 in Tamil Nadu, 18 in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Telangana, 10 in West Bengal, nine in Rajasthan, six each in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, three in Jammu and Kashmir, two in Punjab, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, and one each in Bihar, Jharkhand and Tripura.

Out of the total 7,745 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 3,289 deaths, followed by Gujarat with 1,313, Delhi with 905, Madhya Pradesh with 420, West Bengal with 415, Tamil Nadu with 307, Uttar Pradesh with 301, Rajasthan with 255 and Telangana with 148 deaths.

The death toll reached 77 in Andhra Pradesh, 66 in Karnataka and 55 in Punjab.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 48 fatalities due to the disease, while 45 deaths have been reported from Haryana, 32 from Bihar, 16 from Kerala, 13 from Uttarakhand, nine from Odisha, eight from Jharkhand and six from Chhattisgarh.

Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have registered five Covid-19 fatalities each and Assam has recorded four deaths so far.

Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one Covid-19 fatality each, according to the ministry data.

More than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, the ministry's website stated.

A total of 9,985 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours till Wednesday 8 am.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 90,787 followed by Tamil Nadu at 34,914, Delhi at 31,309, Gujarat at 21,014, Uttar Pradesh at 11,335, Rajasthan at 11,245 and Madhya Pradesh at 9,849 according to the Health Ministry's data updated in the morning.

The number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 8,985 in West Bengal, 5,921 in Karnataka, 5,459 in Bihar and 5,209 in Haryana.

It has risen to 5,070 in Andhra Pradesh, 4,346 in Jammu and Kashmir, 3,920 in Telangana and 3,140 in Odisha.

Assam has reported 2,937 novel coronavirus cases so far while Punjab has 2,719 cases. A total of 2,096 people have been infected by the virus in Kerala and 1,537 in Uttarakhand.

Jharkhand has registered 1,411 cases, while 1,240 cases have been reported from Chhattisgarh, 864 from Tripura, 445 from Himachal Pradesh, 359 from Goa and 323 from Chandigarh.

Manipur has 304 cases, Puducherry and Nagaland has reported 127 cases each till now.

Ladakh has 108 Covid-19 cases, Mizoram has 88, Arunachal Pradesh has 57, Meghalaya 43 while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections so far.

Dadar and Nagar Haveli has 22 cases while Sikkim has reported 13 cases till now.

The ministry's website said that 9,227 cases are being reassigned to states and 'our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR'.

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

Jama Masjid likely to be closed

The Jama Masjid may have to be closed again in view of the 'deteriorating' situation in Delhi due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the mosque's Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari said on Wednesday.

The development comes after the Shahi Imam's secretary Amanullah died due to the novel coronavirus at the Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday night.

Delhi recorded 1,366 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, taking the tally to 31,309, while the death toll mounted to 905, authorities said on Wednesday.

'He (Amanullah) had tested positive and was admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital on June 3, where he breathed his last yesterday,' Bukhari said.

The Shahi Imam said the opinion of the people has been sought on closing the historic mosque again in view of the surge in the number of novel coronavirus cases in the national capital.

DMK legislator dies

DMK legislator J. Anbazhagan died of Covid-19 in Chennai on Wednesday, a private hospital said.

'The 61-year old MLA, who has been fighting for his life with severe Covid-19 pneumonia rapidly deteriorated early this morning.

Inspite of full medical support, including mechanical ventilation at our Covid-19 facility, he succumbed to his illness,' Dr Rela Institute and Medical Centre said in a statement.

DMK president M.K. Stalin condoled Anbazhagan's death and paid rich tributes to him.

Anbazhagan, who had co-morbidities including chronic kidney disease was put on ventilator support on June 3 after his respiratory distress worsened.

After showing improvement, his health condition deteriorated significantly on Monday.

14 staff members of Aurangabad jail test positive

As many as 14 staff members of the Harsul jail in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, a prison official said.

Earlier, 29 undertrial prisoners of the jail had tested positive for the disease following which samples of the prison's administration staff were sent for testing.

Reports of 14 jail staff members, including two officers, came out positive on Wednesday, a senior prison official said.

All the new patients are asymptomatic and they have been quarantined at facilities set up in the jail premises, the official said.

They are being monitored by health teams of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, he said.

The Karnataka government on Wednesday said coronavirus tests conducted in the state has crossed the four lakh mark, while the recovery rate remained at 44 per cent.

Sharing the daily Covid-19 bulletin on his Twitter handle, medical education minister Dr K. Sudhakar said till Tuesday 4,00,257 samples were tested in 71 Covid-19 testing labs across the state.

'Karnataka crossed 4 lakh tests mark on Tuesday. So far, we tested 4,00,257 samples in 71 #COVID19 testing labs across the state with a positivity rate of 1.4 per cent,' he said.

He tweeted that the state's recovery rate remained healthy at 44 per cent with 2,605 discharges and 5,921 cumulative cases.

The minister said Karnataka was home to nearly a tenth of the total testing labs in India.

According to the Karnataka Health department, out of the four lakh odd samples tested, 3,87,027 samples were reported negative.