India's COVID-19 infections hit another record: Over 1.45 lakh new cases on Saturday, tally at 13.21mn

New Delhi: India reported a record 145,384 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday and the highest number of deaths in more than five months, as it grapples with an overwhelming second-wave of infections that has forced the state of Maharashtra to impose a weekend lockdown.

Deaths rose by 794 to a total of 168,436, health ministry data showed.

India's overall case load has swelled to 13.21 million, the third-highest globally, behind the United States and Brazil. India has reported the most number of cases in the world in the past week, breaching the 100,000 mark for the first time on Monday and four times after that.

India's COVID-19 tally has climbed to 1,32,05,926, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The number of active cases has breached the 10-lakh mark again after around six-and-a-half months, the ministry's data updated at 8am showed.

Registering a steady increase for the 31st day in a row, the number of active coronavirus cases in the country has gone up to 10,46,631, accounting for 7.93 per cent of its total caseload, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 90.80 per cent.

The active caseload was at its lowest at 1,35,926 on February 12, accounting for only 1.25 per cent of the total number of cases in the country.

Maharashtra, the state with the most cases, has already shut down restaurants, malls and places of worship and barred the movement of most people to control the outbreak that has threatened to overrun medical facilities and created vaccine shortages, officials said. Its weekend lockdown will end on early Monday.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 1,19,90,859, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.28 per cent, 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), 25,52,14,803 samples have so far been tested in the country for the viral disease, including 11,73,219 on Friday.

The 794 fresh fatalities include 301 from Maharashtra, 91 from Chhattisgarh, 56 from Punjab,46 from Karnataka, 42 from Gujarat, 39 from Delhi, 36 from Uttar Pradesh, 32 from Rajasthan, 23 each from Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, 22 from Kerala, 17 from Jharkhand and 11 each from Andhra Pradesh and Haryana.

Of the total number of 1,68,436 deaths caused by COVID-19 in the country, Maharashtra accounts for 57,329, followed by Tamil Nadu (12,863), Karnataka (12,813), Delhi (11,196), West Bengal (10,378), Uttar Pradesh (9,039), Punjab (7,390) and Andhra Pradesh (7,279).

The health 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.