India on Friday recorded 16,577 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health. A total of 120 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 156,825. The total tally of COVID-19 cases surged to 1,10,63,491, while the recoveries have crossed 1,07,50,680, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past the one-crore mark on December 19.

Also Read| COVID-19 vaccination drive in US ‘weeks ahead of schedule’, says President Biden

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 21,46,61,465 samples have been tested up to February 25 with 831,807 samples being tested on Thursday.

ALSO READ | Worldwide coronavirus death count crosses 2.5 million-mark: Report

The Union health ministry stressed that more than 70% of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.