New Delhi, Mar 11 (IANS): India on Thursday recorded close to 23,000 new Covid-19 cases in a single day, the highest in the past two and half months and around 5,000 more than the previous days.

The country on Thursday reported 22,854 new Covid-19 cases, 126 fatalities, bringing the national infection tally to 1,12,85,961 while the death toll reached 1,58,189, according to the Union Health Ministry.

On Wednesday, India had reported 17,921 Covid-19 cases and 133 deaths.

For the last two days, the number of fatalities has spiked, which earlier was hovering under 100.

As per the Ministry's data, there are 1,89,226 active cases at present. Besides, 18,100 patients of Covid-19 were discharged in a day. A total of 1,09,38,146 persons have been discharged so far.

The rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, which had so far looked confined to Maharashtra and Punjab, is now beginning to show in several other states.

States/UTs such as Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh have had very similar growth trajectories in recent weeks.

Delhi on Wednesday reported 370 cases, a high not witnessed in over two months. Similarly, in Gujarat, the increasing trend has been noticeable for three weeks now. In the last 24 hours, the state has reported 675 new cases, the highest in this year so far.

The experts have expressed a number of possibilities which could be owed to the stride ranging from the lax attitude of people towards following Covid protocols to the likeability of "mutations and new strains" causing the surge, as has been studied by the laboratories involved in Covid detection across the country.

The Ministry also informed that 7,78,416 samples were tested on Wednesday. The cumulative tests done by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) so far stand at 21,42,58,293.

So far, 2,56,85,011 doses of corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on January 16 after approval for 'Covishield' and 'Covaxin'.