Covid-19: India records 14,545 new cases, death toll reaches 1,53,032

India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,06,25,428with 14,545 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day,while the recoveries have surged to 1,02,83,708, accordingto the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll increased to 1,53,032with 163 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Thenumber of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,02,83,708 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate of96.78 percent,while theCOVID-19casefatality rate stands at 1.44per cent.

The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 2 lakh for the third consecutive day.There are1,88,688 active coronavirus infections in the country whichcomprise1.78per cent of the total caseload,the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7,30 lakhonAugust 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 and surpassed theone-crore mark on December 19.

According to the ICMR, 19,01,48,024 samples have been tested up toJanuary 21 with8,00,242 samples being tested on Thursday.