The daily rise in COVID-19 cases in India crossed the grim milestone of one-lakh from 20,000 infections in just 25 days, unlike last year when it took 76 days for daily cases to reach the then peak of 97,894 on September 17, reflecting the speed at which the virus is spreading.

India recorded an all-time high of 1,03,558 single day new coronavirus infections pushing the nationwide COVID-19 tally of cases to 1,25,89,067, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 57,074 (55.11 per cent). It is followed by Chhattisgarh with 5,250 while Karnataka reported 4,553 new cases.

Eight states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab have shown a steep rise in the daily new cases accounting for  81.90 per cent of the new cases reported in a span of 24 hours.

The daily rise in cases fell below 30,000 since December 14 (27,071) and the lowest daily increase of 8,635 infections was reported on February 2 this year.

India's total active caseload has reached 7,41,830 and now comprises 5.89 per cent of the country's total infection while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 92.80 per cent, the data stated.

A net increase of 50,233 cases has been recorded in the total active caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Punjab cumulatively account for 75.88 per cent of the total active cases in the country. Maharashtra alone accounts for nearly 58.23 per cent of the total active caseload of the country.

The active caseload was at its lowest at 1, 35,926 on February 12 comprising  1.25 per cent of the total infections.

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