The death toll due to Covid-19 rose to 7,466 and the number of cases climbed to 2,66,598 in the country after it registered 266 fatalities and a record single-day spike of 9,987 cases till Tuesday 8am, according to the Union health ministry data.

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

The number of active novel coronavirus cases stands at 1,29,917, while 1,29,214 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

'Thus, 48.47 per cent patients have recovered so far,' the ministry said.

The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners.

Of the 266 new deaths reported till Tuesday morning, 109 were in Maharashtra, 62 in Delhi, 31 in Gujarat, 17 in Tamil Nadu, 11 in Haryana, nine in West Bengal, eight in Uttar Pradesh, six in Rajasthan, four in Jammu and Kashmir, three in Karnataka, two each in Madhya Pradesh and Punjab and one each in Bihar and Kerala.

Out of the total 7,466 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 3,169 deaths followed by Gujarat with 1,280 deaths, Delhi with 874, Madhya Pradesh with 414, West Bengal with 405, Tamil Nadu with 286, Uttar Pradesh with 283, Rajasthan with 246 and Telangana with 137 deaths.

The death toll reached 75 in Andhra Pradesh, 64 in Karnataka and 53 in Punjab.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 45 fatalities due to the coronavirus disease, while 39 deaths have been reported from Haryana, 31 from Bihar, 16 from Kerala, 13 from Uttarakhand, nine from Odisha and seven from Jharkhand.

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

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

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

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 88,528 followed by Tamil Nadu at 33,229, Delhi at 29,943, Gujarat at 20,545, Uttar Pradesh at 10,947, Rajasthan at 10,763 and Madhya Pradesh at 9,638, according to the health ministry's data updated in the morning.

The number of Covid-19 cases has climbed to 8,613 in West Bengal, 5,760 in Karnataka, 5,202 in Bihar and 4,854 in Haryana.

It has risen to 4,851 in Andhra Pradesh, 4,285 in Jammu and Kashmir, 3,650 in Telangana and 2,994 in Odisha.

Punjab has reported 2,663 novel coronavirus cases so far while Assam has 2,776 cases. A total of 2,005 people have been infected by the virus in Kerala and 1,411 in Uttarakhand.

Jharkhand has registered 1,256 cases, while 1,160 cases have been reported from Chhattisgarh, 838 from Tripura, 421 from Himachal Pradesh, 330 from Goa and 317 from Chandigarh.

Manipur has 272 cases, Puducherry has 127 and Nagaland has reported 123 cases till now.

Ladakh has 103 Covid-19 cases, Arunachal Pradesh has 51, Mizoram has 42, Meghalaya 36 while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections so far.

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

The ministry's website said that 8,803 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.

Difficult to test all dead for virus: Telangana govt officials

Officials of the Telangana government are of the opinion that it is difficult to implement the high court order to conduct Covid-19 tests on the dead before releasing them from the hospitals in the state.

The officials' response comes a fortnight after the high court ordered the state government to conduct coronavirus tests on all bodies before they were released from government hospitals.

According to a press release by chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao's office on Monday night, the officials opined that the state government should go for an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court's order.

'It is difficult to implement the high court order that Corona tests should be conducted on the dead for whatever reasons they have died. In the state every day 900 to 1,000 people die due to various reasons. Every day someone will die in some remote part of the state. It is not possible to conduct tests on them,' the officials informed Rao during a review meeting held on Monday.

Odisha intensifies Covid awareness programee

With the state reporting more than 800 new Covid-19 cases in the first week of June, Odisha government has asked different departments to intensify awareness campaign as there is no medicine or vaccine for novel coronavirus.

Chief secretary A.K. Tripathy on Monday issued directions to Information and Public Relation, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water, Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti Departments to intensify IEC (Information, Education and Communication) activities with the active involvement of the community.

Apart from social media, Tripathy also asked the officials to use traditional modes like TV, radio, leaflets and posters while reviewing the progress of the special awareness campaign 'Mu bi Covid Yodha' (I am a Covid warrior).

'Information, Education and Communication are the key to win the fight against Covid-19 and check the possible spread of the pandemic', the chief secretary said, adding that an aware and alert community can achieve wonders in the fight against this unseen enemy.

He said chief minister Naveen Patnaik had cautioned the people as well as the administration that the month of June will be very challenging as more than 5 lakh Odia migrant workers have returned from different highly infected states and monsoon is also likely to onset on 10th of this month.

'The campaign will focus on spreading awareness among people on the need of social distancing, mask wearing and hand hygiene to curb the spread of the virus,' said Tripathy.

Minor among positive cases in Puducherry

A 11-year-old boy was among five new positive Covid-19 cases reported in Puducherry on Tuesday, health minister Malladi Krishna Rao said.

He told reporters that the five cases also included a returnee from Abu Dhabi in Mahe, an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala.

The total number of cases in the Union Territory stood at 132 as of Tuesday, he said. Of them, 77 were active cases and the remaining 55 were treated and discharged, the Minister said.

The new cases came under contact tracing.

He called upon the people to cooperate with the health department in containing the spread of the pandemic.

Surgeon dies in Indore; cases surge

A 56-year-old surgeon died of coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district on Tuesday, an official said.

With this, four doctors have so far succumbed to the disease in Indore.

The district reported 45 new Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours, taking its tally to 3,830, a health official said.

The 56-year-old surgeon tested positive for coronavirus last month following which he was admitted to Choithram Hospital, a private facility here, on May 24.

A book shopkeeper wearing a face mask as a precaution against coronavirus waits for customer at a deserted Janpath market in New Delhi, Saturday, June 6, 2020. AP