India's reports 366,946 Covid-19 cases; 12,881 new cases in a day

INDIA registered 12,881 new Covid-19 cases as on Thursday (18), the highest single day tally so far. With this, the total cases jumped to 366,946 and the death toll reached 12,237, the health ministry said. At least 334 people succumbed to death in the last 24 hours.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi — three worst-affected states — continued to record high number coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. Uttar Pradesh and Haryana recorded the biggest jump in COVID-19 count.

Maharashtra and Delhi added over 1,600 deaths related to COVID-19 which were not reported earlier.

There were 160,384 active coronavirus patients in India. Over 50 per cent of total Covid-19 cases were recovered from the diseases.

Meanwhile, prime minister Narendra Modi urged all "to not panic as more and more people are recovering from the deadly infection."

Over 3,300 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Maharashtra in the last 24 hours. The state's count reached 116,752. At least 114 coronavirus patients died in the state. The death count stands at 5,651.

Delhi added nearly 2,500 new coronavirus cases. The total number of Covid-19 patients in the national capital stood at 47,102. At least 67 fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours. The death toll in the capital rose to 1,904.

Tamil Nadu became the second state in the country to register over 50,000 coronavirus cases after Maharashtra. With 2,174 people testing positive for the virus, the state saw the biggest spike in coronavirus tally.

With 520 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, Gujarat's Covid-19 tally increased to 25,148. The deadly virus claimed 27 lives, taking the death toll in the state to 1,561. Gujarat had the third highest coronavirus casualties after Maharashtra and Delhi.

Narendra Modi met the state chief ministers on June 16 and 17 to discuss Covid-19 strategy in future.

"Our focus areas are prevention of the infection, curing of patients and at the same time boosting economic activity," Modi tweeted.