New Delhi, October 23: India's COVID-19 tally inched closer to 78-lakh mark with a spike of 54,366 new cases in the past 24 hours. With the latest spike, the total number of coronavirus cases mounted to 77,61,312. Of the total cases, total active cases are 6,95,509 after a decrease of 20,303 in last 24 hours. Meanwhile, 69,48,498 COVID-19 patients have been cured and discharged from different hospitals across the country. A total of 73,979 new discharges were reported in India in past 24 hours. With 690 deaths in the past 24 hours, the death toll in the country has mounted to 1,17,306. COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Serum Institute Pauses Coronavirus Vaccine Trails Till Further Orders From DCGI, Say Reports.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday tweeted saying that India has crossed 10-crore figure in COVID-19 testing, adding that India has strengthened its fight against the deadly infection by increasing the number of coronavirus testing. The COVID-19 recovery rate in India now stands at 88.81 percent, while the fatality rate is 1.51 percent, the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Thursday.

Here's the tweet:

Here's the tweet by Dr Harsh Vardhan:

According to the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India conducted 14,42,722 sample tests in a single day on Thursday, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 10,01,13,085. Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit with a total of 16,25,197 cases, including 42,831 deaths; followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 23, 2020 10:07 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).