With 18,855 fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally has gone up to 1,07,20,048, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 1,03,94,352, pushing the national recovery rate to 96.96 per cent, the health ministry said on Friday.

The death toll due to the viral disease in the country has climbed to 1,54,010 with 163 more fatalities, the ministry's data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 1,03,94,352, pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 96.96 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.44 per cent.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in the country remained below two lakh for the 10th consecutive day.

There are 1,71,686 active coronavirus cases in the country, which account for only 1.60 per cent of the total number of cases, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, the 30-lakh mark on August 23, the 40-lakh mark on September 5 and the 50-lakh mark on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 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), a total of 19,50,81,079 samples have so far been tested for the viral disease across the country, including 7,42,306 on Thursday.

The 163 new fatalities include 50 from Maharashtra, 35 from Chhattisgarh, 19 from Kerala, nine each from Punjab and West Bengal, six each from Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

Of the total 1,54,010 deaths caused by the viral disease, Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of 50,944, followed by Tamil Nadu (12,339), Karnataka (12,209), Delhi (10,835), West Bengal (10,148), Uttar Pradesh (8,642) and Andhra Pradesh (7,152).

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the COVID-19 deaths in the country 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.