Migrant workers from eastern West Bengal state wait after queueing up overnight on a roadside pavement to register for home bound trains in Kochi, Wednesday, June 3, 2020. AP

India registered a record jump of 8,909 novel coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 2,07,615 on Wednesday, while the toll rose to 5,815 with 217 more deaths, the health ministry said.

The number of active cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) mounted 1,01,497 and 1,00,302 people have recovered, while one has migrated, it said.

Around 48.31 per cent of the patients have recovered so far, a ministry official said.

India is now the seventh among the worst-hit nations by the Covid-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Spain and Italy. The country has been registering more than 8,000 cases for the fourth consecutive day.

Of the 217 more deaths since Tuesday morning, 103 were in Maharashtra, 33 in Delhi, 29 in Gujarat, 13 in Tamil Nadu and 10 in West Bengal.

Six more people died from the pathogen in Madhya Pradesh, followed by five each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and four in Telangana,

There were two deaths each in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, and one each in Kerala, Chandigarh, Ladakh, Punjab and Uttarakhand..

Of the total 5,815 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the list with 2,465 deaths followed by 1,092 in Gujarat and 556 in Delhi.

In Madhya Pradesh, 364 people have died so far, followed by 335 in West Bengal, 222 in Uttar Pradesh and 203 in Rajasthan.

Tamil Nadu has registered 197 deaths so far, while there have been 92 fatalities in Telangana and 64 in Andhra Pradesh.

Fifty-two people have succumbed to the infection in Karnataka, followed by 46 in Punjab, 33 in Jammu and Kashmir, and 24 in Bihar.

Haryana has registered 23 fatalities, while the toll in Kerala is 11. There have been seven deaths each in Odisha and Uttarakhand.

Five Covid-19 fatalities each have been reported from Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Jharkhand, while four have died in Assam.

A person each have died due to the pandemic in Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh and Ladakh, according to the data.

More than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, it said.

The highest number of cases in the country are from Maharashtra with a tally of 72,300, followed by 24,586 in Tamil Nadu, 22,132 in Delhi and 17,617 in Gujarat.

Rajasthan has 9,373 confirmed Covid-19 cases, followed 8,420 in Madhya Pradesh, 8,361 in Uttar Pradesh and 6,168 in West Bengal.

The coronavirus cases has gone up to 4,155 in Bihar, 3,898 in Andhra Pradesh, 3,796 in Karnataka and 2,891 in Telangana.

A total of 2,718 people have contracted Covid-19 in Jammu and Kashmir, followed by 2,652 in Haryana, 2,342 in Punjab and 2,245 in Odisha.

The number of infections in Assam rose to 1,513, while Kerala has 1,412 and Uttarakhand 1,043 cases.

Jharkhand has registered 712 infections, followed by 564 in Chhattisgarh, 468 in Tripura and 345 in Himachal Pradesh.

The Covid-19 tally in Chandigarh rose 301, while there are 89 cases in Manipur, 82 in Puducherry and 81 in Ladakh.

Goa has 79 coronavirus cases, followed by 49 in Nagaland and 33 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Meghalaya has registered 27 infections, while Arunachal Pradesh has reported 22 and Mizoram 13 cases so far.

Dadar and Nagar Haveli has four cases, while Sikkim has reported a case till now.

The ministry said 7,123 cases were being reassigned to states, adding that the figures were being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Statewise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.

Liquor becomes costlier in Rajasthan

Liquor has become costlier in Rajasthan, with the state government imposing a surcharge of up to Rs 30 to mop up revenue amid the Covid-19 crisis.

The state finance department said the decision has been taken to mitigate natural or man-made calamities like floods, epidemic etc.

'The order has been taken in exercise of powers conferred by section 28-A of the Rajasthan Excise Act, 1950 where surcharge can be charged on all kinds of liquor for the purpose of mitigating natural or man-made calamities like drought, flood, epidemic, public health exigencies, fire etc., the finance department said on Tuesday.

The surcharge on Indian-made Foreign Liquor will be Rs 5 for 180ml and 375ml bottles, breezers, miniature and other packaging, while it will be Rs 10 on 750 ml bottles. For beer, Rs 20 will be charged for 650 ml and 500 ml bottles besides Rs 30 on BIO (bottled in origin)

A surcharge of Rs. 1.5 has been imposed per bottle of country liquor and Rajasthan Made Liquor (RML).

In April, the state government had increased excise duty on liquor by 10 percentage points.

Mizoram to get 4 more RT-PCR machines

Mizoram will soon get four more RT-PCR machines to boost its testing capacity amid the mass return of stranded people and detection of new Covid-19 cases in the state, health minister R. Lalthangliana said.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Lalthangliana said the procurement process for the four RT-PCR machines, including one from a private donor, is currently underway.

He said the government would purchase an RT-PCR machine and would get one each from the Centre and Department of Science and Technology of Manipur.

The state government has already installed two Truenat machines in south Mizorams Lunglei town and another two have been procured, he said.

Dual-purpose PPE Kits in Jhansi

The police in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi district has designed a transparent personal protection equipment (PPE) kit for its personnel that will serve the dual purpose of prevention against the novel coronavirus and the rain during the monsoon season.

The police ordered 1,000 pieces from a local vendor and it has been delivered. The kits will distributed to various units of the force in the first phase and more will be made depending on the requirement, an officer said.

'I got this idea a fortnight back and got a few pieces made,' Additional Superintendent of Police Rahul Srivastava told PTI. 'After trying it personally at the border duty, it was found to be comfortable.'

'While developing it, we kept in mind that the visibility of the uniform is essential in enforcement work at hotspots, quarantine centres, police raids and arrests,' the ASP said.

The officer added that the cost of the kit was only Rs 400.

MP quota for migrants' flight tickets

AAP leader Sanjay Singh said on Wednesday he would use the air tickets he is entitled to as an MP to help stranded migrant workers reach Patna from Delhi by flights.

He would take migrant workers on two flights to Patna on Thursday.

In a tweet, Singh said that he will use 34 flight tickets received by an MP during the year to send migrants to Patna with the help of colleagues and voluntary organisations.

An MP is entitled to 34 business class tickets in domestic flights annually.

The decision was praised by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who said it would be an inspiration for everyone.

'Everyone will be inspired by this unique initiative of Sanjay ji. Those whom God has given means, it is their responsibility to put their resources in the service of others. Sanjay ji deserves to be congratulated,' Kejriwal said in a tweet.

Responding to the compliment, Singh said these were the ideals with which he entered politics.

'Thank you Arvind Kejriwal ji. These are the ideals with which we entered politics with you and I will try to follow them throughout my life,' he said in a tweet.