India saw 53,476 new coronavirus infections in a day, the highest single-day rise so far this year, taking the nationwide Covid-19 tally to 1,17,87,534, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
The active caseload registered an increase for the 15th day in a row and was recorded at 3,95,192 comprising 3.35 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 95.28 per cent, the data stated.
The daily rise in infections was the highest recorded in 153 days. The death toll increased to 1,60,692 with 251 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
As many as 54,366 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours on October 23.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to1,12,31,650, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.36 per cent, the data stated.
India's Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
According to the ICMR, 23,75,03,882 samples have been tested up to March 24 with 10,65,021 samples being tested on Wednesday.
The nation of 1.3 billion people was this month overtaken by Brazil as the second-most infected country after cases dipped in December and January from a peak of nearly 1,00,000 per day in September.
India's strict lockdown has been steadily eased over the past year and in recent months most activity, including weddings, religious festivals and some cricket matches, returned to normal. Now many regions are reimposing curbs, particularly in the hard-hit western state of Maharashtra where officials have launched random virus checks in crowded areas in the local capital Mumbai.
The health ministry said Wednesday that the variants first detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil have been found in India, but not in "numbers sufficient to either establish (a) direct relationship or explain the rapid increase in cases in some states".