New Delhi: India on Sunday recorded 25,320 COVID-19 infections, the highest daily rise in 84 days, taking the case tally to 1,13,59,048.
As many as 26,624 new infections were recorded on December 20.
The death toll increased to 1,58,607 on Sunday with 161 new fatalities, the highest in 44 days, according to Union health ministry data.
The country's active caseload increased to 2,10,544 and constitutes 1.85 per cent of the total infections. The recovery rate dropped to 96.75 per cent from 96.82 per cent on Saturday.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,09,89,897, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.40 per cent, the data stated.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 22,67,03,641 samples had been tested up to March 13 with 8,64,368 being tested on Saturday.
The 161 new fatalities include 88 from Maharashtra, 22 from Punjab and 12 from Kerala.
States like Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh are showing a steep rise in the daily new COVID-19 cases and have accounted for 87.73 per cent of the new instances of the disease reported in a day.
Maharashtra registered the highest daily new cases at 15,602, followed by Kerala with 2,035 and Punjab 1,510 new cases.
Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab account for 76.93 per cent of India's total active cases.
The ministry said 83.13 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in six states. Maharashtra has reported a maximum number of 7,467 single-day recoveries.
Fourteen states and Union Territories have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Ladakh, Manipur, Mizoram, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Arunachal Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the country is nearing 3 crore cumulative vaccination doses.
A total of 2,97,38,409 vaccine doses have been administered through 5,10,400 sessions, according to a provisional report till Sunday at 7 am. Of these, 73,47,895 healthcare and 11,35,573 frontline workers were given the first dose, while 42,95,201 healthcare and 73,32,641 frontline workers were given the second dose.
Also, 14,40,092 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities and 81,87,007 senior citizens have received the first dose of the vaccine so far.