With a single-day rise of 44,230 cases, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,15,72,344 on Friday, while the death toll due to the viral disease shot up to 4,23,217 with 555 more people succumbing to it, the Union health ministry said.

The number of active coronavirus cases in the country registered an increase for the third consecutive day, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.

The number of active cases has gone up to 4,05,155, accounting for 1.28 per cent of the total caseload, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.38 per cent, the data showed.

An increase of 1,315 cases was recorded in the active COVID-19 tally in a span of 24 hours.

Also, 18,16,277 tests to detect the infection were carried out on Thursday, taking the total number of such tests conducted so far in the country to 46,46,50,723, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.44 per cent. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.43 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has gone up to 3,07,43,972, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data showed.

The cumulative number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far has reached 45.6 crore.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 30-lakh mark on August 23, 40-lakh mark on September 5 and 50-lakh mark 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.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore COVID-19 cases on May 4 this year and the three-crore mark on June 23.

The 555 fresh fatalities include 190 from Maharashtra and 128 from Kerala.

A total of 4,23,217 Covid deaths have been reported in the country so far, including 1,32,335 from Maharashtra, 36,491 from Karnataka, 34,023 from Tamil Nadu, 25,049 from Delhi, 22,755 from Uttar Pradesh, 18,123 from West Bengal and 16,290 from Punjab.

The ministry stressed that more than 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 on its website, adding that a state-wise distribution of the figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.