New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS): India's tally on Wednesday crossed 56 lakh cases following a spike of 83,347 fresh coronavirus infections reported in 24 hours, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

There were 1,085 new deaths as the toll in past more than eight months reached 90,020 and the total cases mounted to 56,46,010.

India is the second worst-hit country by the pandemic just behind the US, where they have recorded 2 lakh deaths.

Out of the total cases in India, 9,68,377 are currently active, and 45,87,613 have been discharged, making the rate of recoveries best in the world.

While the recovery rate stands at 81.25 per cent, the fatality rate has come down to 1.59 per cent.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit with a total of 12,42,770 cases, including 33,407 deaths, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.

According to the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India conducted 9,53,683 sample tests in a single day on Tuesday, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 6,62,79,462.

The Union Health Ministry had said that it has increased the testing infrastructure exponentially. Till July 7, India had tested 1 crore samples and it took us 27 days to add 2 crore tests. By August 3, we had tested 3 crore samples. During this period, the laboratories were increased from 1,100 to 1,300 in the country.

On Tuesday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine in India might not reach 100 per cent. "We are aiming for 100 per cent efficacy but may land between 50 to 100 per cent. However, it still would be an effective vaccine against the virus," Balram Bhargava, ICMR Director-General said.