Daily COVID-19 cases in India were recorded over 20,000 after a gap of 145 days while the active cases increased to 1,36,076, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

A total of 20,139 new COVID-19 cases were reported in a span of 24 hours, pushing the total tally of cases to 4,36,89,989.

The death toll climbed to 5,25,557 with 38 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 0.31 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.49 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 3,619 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 5.10 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 4.37 per cent, according to the ministry

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,30,28,356, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent.

According to the ministry, 199.27 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 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.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year.

The 38 new fatalities include 16 from Kerala, 10 from Maharashtra, four from West Bengal, three from Delhi and one each from Assam, Bihar, Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

A total of 5,25,557 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,48,001 from Maharashtra, 70,186 from Kerala, 40,125 from Karnataka, 38,028 from Tamil Nadu, 26,288 from Delhi, 23,549 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,255 from West Bengal.

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 state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.