Coronavirus LIVE: India logs 281,860 new cases; Maharashtra sees 974 deaths

Coronavirus live updates: India on Monday witnessed a steep decline in the number of fresh Covid-19 cases with 281,860 infections. This is the first time, India has recorded new cases below 300,000 since April 21. The total caseload stands at 24,964,925, Wordometer showed this morning. Deaths from the virus surged by 4,092 to hit 274,411 in total. While Maharashtra recorded its second highest daily deaths at 974, four other states reported their biggest tolls so far. These were Tamil Nadu (311 deaths), Bengal (147), Himachal Pradesh (70) and Puducherry (32).

Maharashtra reported 34,389 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, followed by Kerala (29,704), Karnataka (31,531), Tamil Nadu (33,181), Andhra Pradesh (24,171), West Bengal (19,117), Uttar Pradesh (15,747) and Delhi (6,456 ) in the past 24 hours.

The six most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (5,378,452), Karnataka (2,203,462), Kerala (2,147,967), Uttar Pradesh (1,609,140), Tamil Nadu (1,598,216), and Delhi (1,380,981).

World coronavirus update: Coronavirus cases rise unabated across the globe with 163,701,233 infected by the deadly contagion. While 143,311,567 have recovered, 3,392,802 have died so far. The US remains the worst-hit country with 33,713,438, followed by India, Brazil, France and Turkey. However, in the past seven days, India has added the highest number of fresh cases at 2,387,154, followed by the Brazil (439,985) and US (231,419).