With the sharpest single-day spike of 83,883 fresh cases, India's overall COVID-19 tally went past the 38 lakh mark on Thursday.

The number of recoveries surged to 29,70,492, pushing the recovery rate to over 77 per cent, the union health ministry data updated at 8 am revealed.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country mounted to 38,53,406, while the death toll climbed to 67,376 as 1,043 people succumbed to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data further stated.

It may be mentioned here that from August 7 till September 3, a total of 18 lakh new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the country.

As per the union health ministry data, the total cases in the country on August 7 was 20 lakh, which rose to 30 lakh on August 23.

The remaining 8 lakh cases have been reported in just 8 days.

On September 3, Thursday, the COVID-19 cases in the country crossed the 38 lakh mark.

Meanwhile, the national COVID-19 recovery rate has risen to 77.09 per cent.

The case fatality rate due to the infection has further declined to 1.75 per cent.

There are 8,15,538 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprise 21.16 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state in the country with a total of 8,08,306 cases and 24,903 deaths.

Maharashtra is closely followed by Andhra Pradesh with 4,45,139 cases and 4,053 deaths.

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, and Bihar come next.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a cumulative total of 4,55,09,380 samples have been tested up to September 2 with 11,72,179 samples being tested on Wednesday- the highest in a day so far.