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India’s Covid-19 death toll crossed the 18,000 mark on Thursday amid a big surge in fresh infections. More than 22,000 new cases were recorded, nearly 2,000 more than the previous single-day record of 20,060 on June 27, led by a huge rush of cases in Maharashtra (6,330), Tamil Nadu (4,343), Karnataka (1,502) and Telangana (1,213).