With a massive single-day spike of 97,894 new cases and 1,132 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 tally on Thursday crossed the 51-lakh mark with total number of cases reaching to 51,18,253.

Of the total cases so far, 10,09,976 are active, while around 40,25,080 have recovered from the deadly virus and 83,198 have died due to the pandemic, the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Maharashtra remained the worst hit state with 2,97,506 active cases of coronavirus followed by Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi cases.

According to the data released by the MoHFW, the fatality rate has reached to 1.63 percent while the recovery rate has jumped to 78.64 percent.

As per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 6,05,65,728 samples were tested up to September 16 for COVID-19. Of these, 11,36,613 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

India remains the second worst-hit nation after the US.

(IANS)