India's COVID-19 caseload surpassed the 80-lakh mark on Thursday, 18 days after it had gone past 70 lakh, with 49,881 new cases while the recoveries surged to 73.15 lakh pushing the national recovery rate to 90.99 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 80,40,203 and the death toll climbed to 1,20,527 with the novel coronavirus virus claiming 517 lives in a span of 24 hours in the country, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.49 per cent.

There are 603687 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 7.5 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 10,65,63,440 samples have been tested up to October 28 with 10,75,760 samples being tested on Wednesday.

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 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.

The 517 new fatalities include 91 from Maharashtra, 60 from West Bengal, 55 each from Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, 40 from Delhi, 35 from Tamil Nadu and 27 from Kerala.

A total of 1,20,527 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 43,554 from Maharashtra followed by 11046 from Karnataka, 11,018 from Tamil Nadu, 6,958 from Uttar Pradesh, 6,643 from Andhra Pradesh, 6,664 from West Bengal, 6,396 from Delhi, 4,158 from Punjab and 3701 from Gujarat.

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.