India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 87.73 lakh with 44,684 new cases in a day, while 81,63,572 people have recuperated from the disease so far, bringing the national recovery rate to 93.04 per cent on Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The fresh cases pushed the number of novel coronavirus cases to 87,73,479. The death toll mounted to 1,29,188 with the pandemic claiming 520 more lives in a span of 24 hours in the country, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.47 per cent.

There are 4,80,719 active cases of the coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 5.48 per cent of the national caseload, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5.

It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11 and surpassed 80 lakh on October 29.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 12,40,31,230 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to November 13 with 9,29,491 samples being tested on Friday.

The 520 new fatalities include 127 from Maharashtra, 91 from Delhi, 51 from West Bengal, 27 from Haryana, 26 from Kerala, 25 from Uttar Pradesh, 18 from Chhattisgarh, 17 from Karnataka, 16 from Punjab and 14 from Tamil Nadu.

A total of 1,29,188 deaths linked to the novel coronavirus have been reported so far in the country, including 45,809 from Maharashtra, followed by 11,491 from Karnataka, 11,454 from Tamil Nadu, 7557 from West Bengal, 7,423 from Delhi, 7,327 from Uttar Pradesh, 6,847 from Andhra Pradesh, 4,428 from Punjab and 3,791 from Gujarat.

The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the COVID-19 deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.