India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 78.14 lakh with 53,370 fresh cases in a day, while 70,16,046 people have so far recuperated pushing the national recovery rate to 89.78 per cent on Saturday, the Union health ministry said.
The total number of coronavirus cases mounted to 78,14,682 and the death toll to 1,17,956, with the novel coronavirus virus claiming 650 lives in a span of 24 hours in the country, the ministry data updated at 8 am on Saturday showed.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.51 per cent.
There are 6,80,680 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 8.71 per cent of the total caseload, the ministry data said.
According to Indian Council of Medical Research, a cumulative total of 10,13,82,564 samples have been tested up to October 23, with 12,69,479 samples tested on Friday.
The country's infection tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past the 50 lakh-mark on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.
The 650 latest fatalities include 184 from Maharashtra, 60 from West Bengal, 58 from Chhattisgarh, 51 from Karnataka, 40 from Uttar Pradesh, 33 from Tamil Nadu and 26 each from Delhi and Kerala.
The total 1,17,956 deaths reported so far in the country include 43,015 from Maharashtra followed by 10,858 from Tamil Nadu, 10,821 from Karnataka, 6,830 from Uttar Pradesh, 6,544 from Andhra Pradesh, 6,368 from West Bengal, 6,189 from Delhi, 4,095 from Punjab and 3,673 from Gujarat.
The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
