India registered the highest-ever single-day spike of 2,003 Covid-19 fatalities on Wednesday, pushing the death toll due to the disease to 11,903 in the country, after Maharashtra and Delhi added deaths that occurred earlier but were not attributed to the coronavirus.

The country's Covid-19 caseload rose to 3,54,065 with 10,974 new infections reported in the last 24 hours.

Of the 2,003 new deaths, Maharashtra accounted for the maximum of 1,409, taking its Covid-19 death toll to 5,537, while coronavirus deaths in Delhi surged by 437, taking its toll to 1,837, according to the health ministry data updated at 8 am.

"The sudden surge in deaths is based on entry of data by the states. Maharashtra and Delhi have reconciled data from previous days," a health ministry official said.

Besides, Tamil Nadu has reported 49 deaths, followed by Gujarat (28), Uttar Pradesh and Haryana (18 each), Madhya Pradesh (11), West Bengal (10), Rajasthan (seven), Karnataka (five) and Telangana (four). Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Punjab, Puducherry and Uttarakhand have reported a fatality each in the last 24 hours.

The number of active cases stands at 1,55,227 in the country, while 1,86,934 people have recovered from the disease and one patient has migrated, according to official figures.

"The recovery rate has risen to 52.80 per cent," the ministry said.

The country registered over 10,000 fresh coronavirus cases for the sixth day in a row. The total number of confirmed cases includes foreigners.

India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia.

According to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling Covid-19 data from all over the world, India is at the eighth position in terms of the death toll due to the disease.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 60,84,256 samples have been tested for coronavirus in the country till June 16 with 1,63,187 tested on Tuesday.

The number of government laboratories has been increased to 674 and that of private laboratories to 250, the ministry said.

Of the total 11,903 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 5,537, followed by Delhi (1,837), Gujarat (1,533), Tamil Nadu (528), West Bengal (495), Madhya Pradesh (476), Uttar Pradesh (417), Rajasthan (308) and Telangana (191).

The COVID-19 death toll reached 118 in Haryana, 94 in Karnataka, 88 in Andhra Pradesh, 72 in Punjab, 63 in Jammu and Kashmir, 41 in Bihar, 25 in Uttarakhand, 20 in Kerala and 11 in Odisha.

Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have registered nine deaths each, while Assam and Himachal Pradesh have recorded eight fatalities each. Chandigarh and Puducherry have reported six deaths each, while Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported a fatality each, according to the health ministry.

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

Maharashtra has also reported the maximum number of cases at 1,13,445, followed by Tamil Nadu (48,019), Delhi (44,688), Gujarat (24,577), Uttar Pradesh (14,091), Rajasthan (13,216) and West Bengal (11,909), according to the ministry.

The number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 11,083 in Madhya Pradesh, 8,272 in Haryana, 7,530 in Karnataka and 6,841 in Andhra Pradesh. It has risen to 6,778 in Bihar, 5,406 in Telangana, 5,298 in Jammu and Kashmir, 4,319 in Assam and 4,163 in Odisha.

Punjab has reported 3,371 coronavirus cases so far, while Kerala has 2,622. A total of 1,942 people have been infected with the virus in Uttarakhand, 1,839 in Jharkhand, 1,781 in Chhattisgarh, 1,092 in Tripura, 649 in Ladakh, 629 in Goa, 560 in Himachal Pradesh and 500 in Manipur.

Chandigarh has registered 358 Covid-19 cases, Puducherry 216, Nagaland 179, Mizoram 121, Arunachal Pradesh 95 and Sikkim 70.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 45 Covid-19 cases. Meghalaya and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have registered 44 cases of the infection each.

"Our figures are being reconciled with that of the ICMR," the ministry said, adding that 8,273 cases are being reassigned to states.

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

Mumbai: Contact tracing ramped up

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) informed the Bombay High Court that it has ramped up Covid-19 contact tracing in the city to 1:10 ratio and plans to increase the same to 1:15 ratio in the coming days.

In an affidavit filed in the court on Tuesday, the civic body said for every Covid-19 patient, it had identified at least 10 high and low-risk contacts and placed them in institutional or home quarantine.

On June 12 alone, it had screened more than 19,000 people who may have come in contact with infected persons, while over 78 lakh such people had been screened so far, the BMC stated in its affidavit.

"To contain or stop the spread of COVID-19, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has been carrying out aggressive contact tracing. The current contact tracing ratio is 1:10 and the proposal is to increase this to 1:15 in densely populated areas," the affidavit filed by BMC's E ward assistant commissioner reads.

These submissions were made before a bench of Justice S.J. Kathawalla, who was hearing a petition filed by Neelkamal Realty, a DB Realty group company, challenging the requisition of its redevelopment building in Byculla by the civic body to use it as a quarantine facility.

Health workers speak with a motorist about sanitisation as they walk on a street after a free medical camp in Mumbai, Monday, June 15, 2020. AP

503 isolation coaches in Delhi

The Railways has deployed 503 isolation coaches in Delhi at nine stations days after Union home minister Amit Shah made the announcement as part of measures to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Wednesday.

The units are among the 960 converted coaches deployed in five states in an effort to augment medical care facilities for patients of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

While Delhi's Anand Vihar railway station has got the lion's share with 267 such coaches deployed at its seven platforms, there are 50 each in Shakur Basti and Sarai Rohilla, officials told PTI.

The national transporter has deployed 33 coaches at Delhi Cantonment, 30 at Adarsh Nagar, 21 at Safdarjung, 13 each at Tughlaqabad and Shahdara, and 26 at the Patel Nagar stations, according to the officials.

These coaches can be used in areas where the state has exhausted the facilities and needs to augment capacities for isolation of suspected and confirmed cases, according to an integrated Covid-19 plan by the Health Ministry and the NITI Aayog.

The coaches can be used for very mild cases that can be clinically assigned to the coronavirus care centres, the health ministry guidelines stated.

No foreign training for bureaucrats

There will be no foreign training of bureaucrats during the ongoing financial year considering the safety and austerity measures being taken by the government due to coronavirus pandemic, the personnel ministry has said.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), cadre controlling authorities (ministries concerned) and central training institutes conduct foreign training or have international component as part of the overall training programme.

"Due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and in view of the safety measures and financial austerity, all cadre controlling authorities and central training institutes are informed that no foreign training shall be conducted during the current financial year viz. 2020-2021," it said in a recent order.

"However, under exceptional circumstances, if it is felt necessary to conduct any foreign training, prior approval of DoPT must be obtained," the order said.

A total of Rs 238.45 crore was allocated to the personnel ministry for the current financial year for domestic and foreign training of bureaucrats and augmenting necessary infrastructure, according to the 2020-21 budget presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in February.

Of these, Rs 83.45 crore was earmarked for the ministry to meet establishment-related expenditure of the Delhi-based Institute of Secretariat Training and Management (ISTM), Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie and training division of the DoPT.

Gokul chat closed

Popular eatery in Hyderabad, Gokul Chat, which was among the two places rocked by blasts in 2007 that claimed 44 lives, has been temporarily closed after its owner tested positive for coronavirus.

Twin blasts at this shop and open air theatre at Lumbini park in 2007 had left 44 dead and 68 injured.

Police said the management took the decision after the owner, who was suffering from pneumonia for a long time, was admitted to a private hospital on June 13 and subsequently tested positive.

Though the owner had not been coming to the eatery since June 8, the workers there have been placed under home quarantine, they said.

Samples have been collected from his family members for Covid-19 tests, they added.