According to the data updated on Wednesday by the Union health ministry, India witnessed a record 4,529 deaths due to Coronavirus in a single day, bringing the Covid-19 death toll to 2,83,248, with 2.67 lakh new cases.

With a total of 2,67,334 fresh infections, India's total tally of cases climbed to 2,54,96,330. The active cases fell to 32,26,719, comprising 12.66 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 86.23 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,19,86,363 while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.11 per cent, the data stated.

On August 7, India's Covid-19 tally surpassed 20 lakh, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, and 50 lakh on September 16. It exceeded the 60 lakh level on September 28, the 70 lakh mark on October 11, the 80 lakh mark on October 29, the 90 lakh mark on November 20, and the one-crore mark on December 19. On May 4, India passed the horrifying 2 crore mark.

Up to May 18, 32,03,01,177 samples had been analysed, with 20,08,296 samples being examined on Tuesday, according to the ICMR. There were 1,291 new fatalities in Maharashtra, 525 in Karnataka, 364 in Tamil Nadu, 265 in Delhi, 255 in Uttar Pradesh, 231 in Punjab, 153 in Chhattisgarh, 146 in Rajasthan, 145 in West Bengal, 124 in Haryana, and 111 in Bihar. So far, there have been 2, 83,248 deaths in the country, with 83,777 deaths in Maharashtra, 22,838 in Karnataka, 22,111 in Delhi, 18,369 in Tamil Nadu, 18,072 in Uttar Pradesh, 13,576 in West Bengal, 12,317 in Punjab, and 12,036 in Chhattisgarh.

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