With a record single-day increase of 66,999 cases, India's Covid-19 tally mounted to 23,96,637 on Thursday, while the number of patients who have recovered from the disease surged to 16,95,982, pushing the recovery rate to 70.77 per cent in the country, according to the Union health ministry.

The death toll due to Covid-19 climbed to 47,033 with 942 people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours, health ministry data updated at 8 am showed.

The case fatality rate in the country has declined to 1.96 per cent.

There are 6,53,622 active Covid-19 cases in the country presently, which account for 27.27 per cent of its total caseload.

India crossed the 20-lakh mark in terms of Covid-19 cases on August 7.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 2,68,45,688 samples were tested in the country till August 12, including 8,30,391 on Wednesday, the highest number of tests performed in a day.

Of the 942 fresh deaths, 344 were reported from Maharashtra, 119 from Tamil Nadu, 112 from Karnataka, 93 from Andhra Pradesh, 54 each from Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, 39 from Punjab, 18 from Gujarat, 15 from Madhya Pradesh, 14 from Delhi and 11 each from Telangana and Rajasthan.

Nine fatalities were reported from Odisha, eight from Jammu and Kashmir, six each from Assam and Kerala, five each from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Puducherry, four from Uttarakhand, three each in Bihar, Goa and Haryana and one case was recorded in Tripura.

Of the total 47,033 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the highest number of 18,650, followed by Tamil Nadu (5,278), Delhi (4,153), Karnataka (3,510), Gujarat (2,713), Andhra Pradesh (2,296), Uttar Pradesh (2,230), West Bengal (2,203) and Madhya Pradesh (1,048).

So far, 822 people have died of Covid-19 in Rajasthan, 675 in Punjab, 665 in Telangana, 503 in Haryana, 498 in Jammu and Kashmir, 416 in Bihar, 305 in Odisha, 197 in Jharkhand, 161 in Assam, 140 in Uttarakhand and 126 in Kerala.

Chhattisgarh has registered 109 Covid-19 deaths, Puducherry 96, Goa 89, Tripura 44, Chandigarh 26, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands 21, Himachal Pradesh 18, Manipur 12, Ladakh nine, Nagaland eight, Meghalaya six, Arunachal Pradesh three, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two and Sikkim one.

The ministry stressed that over 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, adding that a state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.