India's Covid-19 tally zoomed past six lakh on Thursday with a single-day increase of 19,148 cases, just five days after it crossed the five-lakh mark, while the death toll rose to 17,834, according to the Union health ministry data.

It took 110 days for coronavirus infections in the country to reach one lakh, while just 44 days more to go past the six-lakh mark.

The country's Covid-19 caseload increased to 6,04,641 on Thursday, while 434 persons have succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 8am showed.

With a steady rise, the number of recoveries stands at 3,59, 859 while one patient has migrated. There are 2,26,947 active cases of coronavirus infection presently in the country.

"Thus, around 59.52 per cent of patients have recovered so far," an official said.

The total number of confirmed cases included foreigners.

This is the sixth consecutive day when coronavirus infections increased by more than 18,000. There has been a surge of 4,14,106 Covid-19 cases from June 1 till date.

According to the ICMR, the number of tests for detection of the disease crossed the nine million mark on Thursday.

A cumulative total of 90,56,173 samples have been tested up to July 1 while 2,29,588 samples have been tested on Wednesday, the apex health research body said.

Of the 434 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 198 are from Maharashtra, 63 from Tamil Nadu, 61 from Delhi, 21 each from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, 15 from West Bengal, nine from Madhya Pradesh, eight from Rajasthan, seven each from Telangana and Karnataka, six from Andhra Pradesh, five from Punjab, four each from Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, three from Bihar and one each from Chhattisgarh and Goa.

Of the total 17,834 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 8,053 fatalities followed by Delhi with 2,803 deaths, Gujarat with 1,867,Tamil Nadu with 1,264, Uttar Pradesh with 718, West Bengal with 683, Madhya Pradesh with 581, Rajasthan with 421 and Telangana with 267 deaths.

The Covid-19 death toll reached 253 in Karnataka, 240 in Haryana, 193 in Andhra Pradesh, 149 in Punjab, 105 in Jammu and Kashmir, 70 in Bihar, 41 in Uttarakhand, 25 in Odisha and 24 in Kerala.

Jharkhand has registered 15 deaths, Chhattisgarh 14, Assam and Puducherry 12 each, Himachal Pradesh 10, Chandigarh six, Goa four 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 1,80,298, followed by Tamil Nadu at 94,049, Delhi at 89,802, Gujarat at 33,232, Uttar Pradesh at 24,056, West Bengal at 19,170 and Rajasthan at 18,312 according to the ministry data.

The number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 17,357 in Telangana, 16,514 in Karnataka, 15,252 in Andhra Pradesh, 14,941 in Haryana, and 13,861 in Madhya Pradesh.

It has risen to 10,249 in Bihar, 8,582 in Assam, 7,695 in Jammu and Kashmir and 7,316 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 5,668 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 4,593 cases.

A total of 2,947 people have been infected by the virus in Uttarakhand, 2,940 in Chhattisgarh, 2,521 in Jharkhand, 1,396 in Tripura, 1,387 in Goa, 1,260 in Manipur, 990 in Ladakh and 979 in Himachal Pradesh.

Puducherry has recorded 714 COVID-19 cases, Nagaland 459, Chandigarh 446 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 215 Covid-19 cases.

Arunachal Pradesh reported 195 cases, Mizoram has 160 cases, Sikkim has 101, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 100 infections so far, while Meghalaya has recorded 52 cases.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said, adding that 6,832 cases are being reassigned to states.

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

Shoppers at a mall after it re-opened n Wednesday, July 1, 2020, during Unlock 2.0, at MG Road in Gurugram PTI

10-day lockdown in Thane, 2 civic bodies

A 10-day complete lockdown has been enforced from Thursday in Thane and two other civic administration limits adjoining Mumbai city to contain the spread of coronavirus, officials said.

Essential services and medical emergencies are exempted from the lockdown, while inter-city buses, autorickshaws and taxis will not be allowed to operate in these civic limits, they said.

The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) and Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation, all part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), jointly decided on the complete lockdown for next 10 days in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in these areas, the officials said.

The lockdown came into force from 7am on Thursday and will continue till 7am on July 12, they said.

The municipal corporations of Navi Mumbai and Panvel will enforce complete lockdown from July 3 midnight.

"We want to break the chain of coronavirus infection. People working in essential services will be exempted from the lockdown and will be allowed to move out for work," KDMC commissioner Vijay Suryavanshi said.

Assam lab isolates virus

The Regional Medical Research Centre in Assam's Dibrugarh has become the fourth laboratory in the country to successfully isolate SARS-CoV-2 virus that can be used for the production of a vaccine against Covid-19, state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday.

Scientists at the RMRC have isolated the Covid-19 virus in VERO-CCL81 cell line in the BSL-3 level lab available at the institute, he told reporters here.

The RMRC is the third government laboratory in the country after the NIV, Pune; and the CCMB, Hyderabad, to isolate the virus.

The other facility to do so is Bharat Biotech, a private biotechnology laboratory in Hyderabad.