With a record single-day surge of 24,850 coronavirus infections and 613 fatalities, India's Covid-19 caseload zoomed to 6,73,165, while the death toll climbed to 19,268 on Sunday, according to the Union health ministry data.

Recording over 20,000 coronavirus infections for the third consecutive day, India is set to overtake Russia's tally.

According to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling Covid-19 data from all over the world, India is behind Russia with 399 cases.

India is currently the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia and is at the eighth position in terms of the death toll.

Maharashtra crossed the grim milestone of two lakh Covid-19 cases, recording a single-day increase of 7,074 infections, the Health Ministry's updated data at 8 am showed.

Tamil Nadu registered 4,280 cases in the past 24 hours, while Delhi, Telangana, Karnataka, Assam and Bihar added a total of 7,935 Covid-19 cases in a day.

These seven states have contributed to around 78 per cent of the singe-day spike.

With a steady rise, the number of recoveries stands at 4,09,082 while one patient has migrated. There are 2,44,814 active cases of coronavirus infections presently in the country, the data showed.

"Thus, around 60.77 per cent of patients have recovered so far," an official said.

The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 97,89,066 samples have been tested up to July 4 with 2,48,934 samples being tested on Saturday.

Of the 613 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 295 are from Maharashtra, 81 from Delhi, 65 from Tamil Nadu, 42 from Karnataka, 24 from Uttar Pradesh, 21 from Gujarat, 19 from West Bengal, 12 from Andhra Pradesh, nine from Bihar, eight from Jammu and Kashmir, seven from Rajasthan, five each in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Telangana, two each from Goa and Jharkhand and one from Himachal Pradesh.

Of the total 19,268 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 8,671 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,004 deaths, Gujarat with 1,925, Tamil Nadu with 1,450, Uttar Pradesh with 773, West Bengal with 736, Madhya Pradesh with 598, Rajasthan with 447 and Karnataka with 335.

The Covid-19 death toll reached 288 in Telangana, 260 in Haryana, 218 in Andhra Pradesh, 162 in Punjab, 127 in Jammu and Kashmir, 89 in Bihar, 42 in Uttarakhand, 34 in Odisha and 25 in Kerala.

Jharkhand has registered 17 deaths, Chhattisgarh and Assam 14 each, Puducherry 12, Himachal Pradesh 11, Chandigarh and Goa six each 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 2,00,064 followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,07,001, Delhi at 97,200, Gujarat at 35,312, Uttar Pradesh at 26,554, Telangana at 22,312 and Karnataka at 21,549, according to the ministry data.

The number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 21,231 in West Bengal, 19,532 in Rajasthan, 17,699 in Andhra Pradesh, 16,548 in Haryana and 14,604 in Madhya Pradesh.

It has risen to 11,700 in Bihar, 10,668 in Assam, 8,601 in Odisha and 8,246 in Jammu and Kashmir. Punjab has reported 6,109 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 5,204 cases.

A total of 3,161 have been infected by the virus in Chhattisgarh,3,093 in Uttarakhand, 2,739 in Jharkhand, 1,684 in Goa, 1,546 in Tripura, 1,325 in Manipur, 1,046 in Himachal Pradesh and 1,005 in Ladakh.

Puducherry has recorded 802 Covid-19 cases, Nagaland 563, Chandigarh 460 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 271 Covid-19 cases.

Arunachal Pradesh reported 259 cases, Mizoram has 164 cases, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 119, Sikkim has registered 103 infections so far, while Meghalaya has recorded 62 cases.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said, adding that 4,629 cases are being reassigned to states.

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

A woman waits for customers for face masks on a pavement in Hyderabad, India, Friday, July 3, 2020. AP

Goa councillor dies of virus

A 72-year-old councillor of the Mormugao Municipal Council in Goa died due to Covid-19 in the wee hours on Sunday, a state health department official said.

Pascoal DSouza, who did not belong to any political party, tested positive for coronavirus last month following which he was admitted to Margao-based ESI Hospital, a specially designated facility for Covid-19 patients.

He succumbed to the viral infection on Sunday, the official said.

D'Souza represented a ward in Mangor Hill area, which has been declared as a containment zone after more than 200 people there tested positive for coronavirus.

The municipal council elections in Goa are not fought on party lines.

With the councillor's death, the overall toll in the coastal state has reached seven.

4 Assam Rifles personnel, 10 NDRF staff test positive

Twenty-two more people, including four Assam Rifles personnel and ten NDRF staffers, tested positive for Covid-19 in Mizoram, taking the state's tally to 186, an official said on Sunday.

Of the fresh cases, 14 were reported from Aizawl district and four each from Siaha and Lawngtlai, he said.

"A total of 22 people, including three women, tested positive for the disease in the past 24 hours and all of them have travel history," the health department official said.

This is the second-highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases in the state after the first coronavirus patient was found in Mizoram on March 24, he said.

The state had reported the biggest single-day spike of 51 coronavirus cases on June 10.

A woman talks to her mother who is admitted in a Covid-19 hospital through a video phone facility by the help desk outside a hospital, in New Delhi, India, Friday, July 3, 2020. AP

1984 anti-Sikh riots convict dies

A former MLA serving jail sentence in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case died due to Covid-19 at a hospital in New Delhi, the second inmate of Mandoli prison to have succumbed to the infection, officials said on Sunday.

Mahender Yadav (70) was a former MLA from Palam constituency. He was lodged in Jail no. 14 of Mandoli prison, where he was undergoing a sentence of 10 years, and had been hospitalised on June 26, they said.

Another convict Kanwar Singh, who died last month and had tested positive for coronavirus, was also lodged in Jail no. 14.

Director general (prisons) Sandeep Goel said that Yadav complained of uneasiness and some heart related problems on June 26. He was taken to DDU hospital, from where he was referred to LNJP hospital the same day and admitted there.

CAB headquarters shut after staff tests positive

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) headquarter was on Sunday shut down for seven days after a non-permanent staff of the iconic Eden Gardens ground tested positive for Covid-19.

"Chandan Das, who works in the civil engineering department on a temporary basis, has tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday CAB president Avishek Dalmiya said in a statement.

"He is at present admitted at Charnock Hospital. Even though he had not come to CAB for a week, on the advice of eminent doctors in the Medical Committee, we have asked all to refrain from visiting the CAB office for the next seven days and during this period, extensive sanitizing will take place keeping all safety protocols in mind.

"Incidentally CAB has not opened formally and has been working sporadically with a skeleton staff essentially to meet certain statutory compliances and for clearing dues to various stakeholders," Dalmiya added.