New Delhi

India added over two lakh new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, an unprecedented figure, to take its toll to over 1.4 crore. India has been the world's worst-hit country since April 2, forcing states scrambling to impose curbs to control the virus.

With 1,038 people dying in the same time span, the total fatalities rose to 1,73,123. India's tally of more than 1.4 crore Covid cases is the second-highest globally, behind the United States and ahead of Brazil's.

This is fifth straight day of the country seeing over 1.5 lakh new cases and the ninth straight of over one lakh cases. While the United States took 21 days to reach the daily count of two lakh daily cases from one lakh per day, India reached that grim milestone in just 11 days.

In worst-hit Maharashtra and capital Mumbai, restaurants are shut and public gatherings of more than five people are banned. The state reported 58,952 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 35,78,160, while 278 new fatalities pushed the death count to 58,804.