India recorded 22,854 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), which took the nationwide tally to 11,285,561, according to a Union health ministry bulletin on Thursday.

The number of active cases went up by 4,628, and currently stand at 1,89,226, the health ministry bulletin said.

It also said that 126 people died due to the infection, which pushed the death toll up to 1,58,189. The number of those cured or discharged from hospitals reached 10,938,146.

This is only the third time in 2021 that the country’s daily caseload has crossed the 20,000-mark - the previous two instances were in the first week of January when the first wave of Covid cases was receding.

The ministry said on Wednesday that six states - Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu - account for 83.76 per cent of fresh Covid-19 cases. Maharashtra, the worst-affected state of the lot, reported 13,659 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, its first one-day spike in excess of 13,000 in 2021 and highest in 154 days. The state has till date recorded 2,252,057 infections.