Covid-19: India records 12,881 new cases, 101 fresh fatalities in 24 hours

India'stally of COVID-19 cases rose to1,09,50,201 with 12,881 new infections,while the recoveries surged to1,06,56,845, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

Thedeath toll increased to1,56,014 with 101 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

TheCOVID-19casefatality rate has dropped to 1.42per cent, whilethe number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,06,56,845which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of97.32 percent.

The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 1.5 lakh.

There are 1,37,342 active cases of coronavirus infections in the country whichcomprises1.25 per cent of the total cases, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7,30 lakh onAugust 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and50 lakh onSeptember 16.It went past60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh onOctober 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh onNovember 20 andsurpassed theone-crore mark on December 19.

According to the ICMR, 20,87,03,791 samples have been tested up to February 17 with7,26,562 samples being tested on Wednesday.

The 101 new fatalities include 40 from Maharashtra, 16 from Kerala and 10 from Punjab.

A total of1,56,014 deathshave been reported so far in the countryincluding51,631from Maharashtra followed by 12,438 from Tamil Nadu,12,276 fromKarnataka,10,894 fromDelhi, 10,237 from West Bengal,8,707 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,165 fromAndhra Pradesh.

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 itswebsite, adding that state-wisedistribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.