New Delhi: 

India's COVID-19 tally of cases went past 42 lakh with a record 90,802 people being infected in a day, while 32,50,429 people have recuperated so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 77.30 per cent on Monday, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The total number of coronavirus cases mounted to 42,04,613, while the death toll climbed to 71,642 with 1,016 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.70 per cent.

There are 8,82,542 active cases of the infection in the country which comprises 20.99 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

With its nationwide tally of 4.2 million exceeded only by the U.S. figure of 6.2 million, India is adding more cases each day than any other country this year since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Experts say there is no sign of a peak as cases surge in the world's second most populous country, both in major cities, such as New Delhi and the financial hub of Mumbai, and rural areas that have limited access to health services.

"It's becoming a double burden now," Rajib Dasgupta, a professor of community health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in the capital, told Reuters.

"The urban areas are not slowing down and rural areas are picking up," he said.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and it went past 40 lakh on September 5.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 4,95,51,507 samples have been tested up to September 6 with 7,20,362 samples being tested on Sunday.

Of the 1,016 fresh deaths, 328 are from Maharashtra, 95 from Karnataka, 88 from Tamil Nadu, 77 from Uttar Pradesh, 70 from Andhra Pradesh, 54 from Punjab, 52 from West Bengal, 29 each from Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, 25 from Haryana, 24 from Chhattisgarh and 16 from Puducherry.

Fifteen fatalities have been reported each from Bihar and Rajasthan, 14 each from Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir, 10 from Kerala, 11 from Uttarakhand, nine from Telangana, eight each from Assam and Odisha, seven each from Jharkhand and Goa, five from Tripura, two each from Chandigarh and Manipur, one each from Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

Of the total 71,642 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 26,604 followed by 7,836 in Tamil Nadu, 6,393 in Karnataka, 4,567 in Delhi, 4,417 in Andhra Pradesh, 3,920 in Uttar Pradesh, 3,562 in West Bengal, 3,105 in Gujarat and 1,862 in Punjab.

So far, 1,572 people have died of COVID-19 in Madhya Pradesh, 1,137 in Rajasthan, 895 in Telangana, 806 in Haryana, 784 in Jammu and Kashmir, 750 in Bihar, 546 in Odisha, 469 in Jharkhand, 380 in Chhattisgarh, 360 in Assam, 347 in Kerala and 341 in Uttarakhand.

Puducherry has registered 314 fatalities, Goa 236, Tripura 149, Chandigarh 71, Himachal Pradesh 55, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 50, Manipur 38, Ladakh 35, Meghalaya 16, Nagaland 10, Arunachal Pradesh eight, Sikkim five and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two.

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.