India reports 15,906 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours; Active caseload stands at 1,72,594

New Delhi, Oct 24: India recorded 15,906 new cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the last 24 hours, which pushed the nationwide tally to 34,175,468, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Sunday. The country saw a total of 16,479 discharges in the last 24 hours, taking the total recovery rate at around 98.16 per cent which is the highest since March 2020 and total recoveries data reached to 3,35,48,605.

The total death toll in the country is now at 4,54,269. In India, the first death due to COVID pandemic was reported in March 2020.

India took 85 days to touch the 10-crore vaccination mark, 45 more days to cross the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach the 30-crore mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 59,97,71,320 samples have been tested up to October 23 for COVID-19. Of these 13,40,158 samples were tested on Saturday.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.