With a fresh spike of 78,524 coronavirus cases and 971 deaths in 24 hours, India's tally on Thursday went past the 68-lakh-mark with a total of 68,35,655 cases.

Out of these, 9,02,425 are currently active; 58,27,704 have been discharged, while 1,05,526 have lost the battle against the pandemic.

The recovery rate stands at 85.02 per cent and the fatality rate at 1.55 per cent, the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

On Tuesday, India recorded a spike of 61,267, which was the lowest since August. But on Wednesday it again recorded 72,049 cases.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit with a total of 14,80,489 cases, including 39,072 deaths; followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

According to the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India conducted 11,94,321 sample tests in a single day on Wednesday, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 8,34,65,975.