India registered a record single-day spike of 1,26,789 new COVID-19 cases, pushing its infection tally to 1,29,28,574, while the number of active cases too went upwards to breach the nine lakh-mark again, Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday showed.

The death toll due to the disease in the country increased to 1,66,862, with 685 new fatalities being reported in a day, according to the data updated at 8 am.

Registering a steady increase for the 29th day in row, the count of active cases has gone up to 9,10,319, which is 7.04 per cent of the total infections, while the country's recovery rate has dropped to 91.67 per cent, it stated.

The active COVID-19 caseload in the country was recorded at its lowest of 1,35,926 on February 12, comprising 1.25 per cent of the total infections.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,18,51,393, while the case fatality rate has dropped to 1.29 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 last year, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 25,26,77,379 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the country so far, including 12,37,781 on Wednesday.

The 685 new fatalities include 322 from Maharashtra, 62 from Punjab, 53 from Chhattisgarh, 40 from Uttar Pradesh, 35 from Karnataka, 22 from Gujarat, 20 from Delhi, 17 from Tamil Nadu, 16 from Kerala, 13 from Madhya Pradesh, 12 from Rajasthan and 11 each from Andhra Pradesh and Haryana.

A total of 1,66,862 deaths due to the disease have been reported so far in the country. This includes 56,652 fatalities from Maharashtra, 12,821 from Tamil Nadu, 12,731 from Karnataka, 11,133 from Delhi, 10,363 from West Bengal, 8,964 from Uttar Pradesh, 7,278 from Punjab and 7,262 from Andhra Pradesh.

The Union Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the 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.