India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 95.71 lakh, while the total number of people who have recuperated from the disease crossed 90 lakh pushing the national recovery rate to 94.20 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 95,71,559 with 36,595 new infections being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,39,188 with 540 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 90,16,289 pushing the national recovery rate to 94.20 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.

The active COVID-19 caseload continued to remain below 5 lakh.There are 4,16,082 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprises 4.35 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

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

According to the ICMR, 14,47,27,749  samples have been tested up to December 3 with  11,70,102 samples being tested on Thursday.

The 540 new fatalities include 115 from Maharashtra, 82 from Delhi, 49 from West Bengal, 32 from Haryana, 31 each from Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, 22 from Chhattisgarh and 20 each from Punjab and Rajasthan.

A total of 1,39,188 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 47,472 from Maharashtra followed by 11,821 from Karnataka, 11,747 from Tamil Nadu, 9,424 from Delhi, 8,576 from West Bengal, 7,848 from Uttar Pradesh, 7,014 from Andhra Pradesh, 4,862 from Punjab, 4,031 from Gujarat and 3,300 from Madhya Pradesh.

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

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of  Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.