A record 4,187 COVID-19 fatalities in a day took India's death toll to 2,38,270, while 4,01,078 new infections were reported during the period, pushing the tally of cases to 2,18,92,676, according to Union Health Ministry data on Saturday.

Registering a steady increase, active cases have reached 37,23,446 which comprise 17.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 81.90 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,79,30,960, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.09 per cent, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore cases on May 4 this year.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 30,04,10,043 samples have been tested up to May 7 with 18,08,344 being tested on Friday.

The 4,187 new fatalities include 898 from Maharashtra, 592 from Karnataka, 372 from Uttar Pradesh, 341 from Delhi, 208 from Chhattisgarh, 197 from Tamil Nadu, 165 from Punjab, 164 from Rajasthan, 162 from Haryana, 137 from Uttarakhand, 136 from Jharkhand, 119 from Gujarat and 112 from West Bengal.

Of the 2,38,270 deaths reported in the country so far, 74,413 were from Maharashtra, 18,739 from Delhi, 17,804 from Karnataka, 15,171 from Tamil Nadu, 14,873 from Uttar Pradesh, 12,076 from West Bengal, 10,158 from Chhattisgarh and 10,144 from Punjab.

The health ministry has stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths have occurred due to comorbidities.

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