New Delhi, Jun 10 (IANS): India recorded 6,148 deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest since the pandemic hit last year, according to data released by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Thursday.

This is even as daily infections have been steadily showing a downward trend -- with 94,052 fresh Covid infections reported in a day -- less than one lakh for the third straight day.

India earlier registered the highest fatalities due to Covid-19 on May 21 with 4,529 deaths, which crossed both the US and Brazil's record deaths in 24 hours. It surpassed the US 4,468 deaths reported on January 12, 2021; and 4,211 in Brazil on April 6, 2021.

Since May 14, India has recorded over 1 lakh deaths.

On June 8, India recorded 86,498 cases, the lowest since April 2 when the country logged 89,129 new cases.

India's overall tally of Covid-19 cases now stands at 2,91,83,121 with 11,67,952 active cases and 3,59,676 deaths so far.

After battling a brutal second wave for weeks, fresh Covid cases came down below the three lakh mark for the first time on May 17 after touching a record high of 4,14,188 on May 7.

According to the Health Ministry, a total of 1,51,367 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the total discharge to 2,76,55,493 to date.

The Health Ministry said that a total of 24,27,26,693 people have been vaccinated so far in the country, including 33,79,261 who were administered vaccines in the last 24 hours.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 37,21,98,253 samples have been tested up to June 9 for Covid-19. Of these 20,04,690 samples were tested on Wednesday.