DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Haryana's COVID-19 death toll rose to 1,548 with 20 more fatalities being reported on Thursday, while 1,284 fresh cases took the infection tally to 1,38,682, according to a health department bulletin. Of the new fatalities, four each were from Hisar and Rohtak, three from Rewari, two each from Faridabad and Jhajjar, and one each was reported from Ambala, Palwal, Panchkula, Bhiwani and Kurukshetra.Among the districts which reported a big spike in cases included Gurugram (264), Faridabad (182), Hisar (129) and Karnal (100), according to the bulletin. Active cases in the state currently are 10,867 while the recovery rate, which was 78.11 per cent a month ago, has further improved and was 91.05 per cent on Thursday. India saw a single-day rise of 78,524 COVID-19 cases taking the virus caseload to over 68 lakh, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 58,27,704,  according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 85.25 per cent. The total coronavirus cases mounted to 68,35,655, while the death toll climbed to 1,05,526 with 971 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed. The total recoveries have surged to 58,27,704 while there are 9,02,425 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 13.20  per cent of the total caseload, the data stated. The COVID-19 case fatality rate has dropped to 1.54 per cent. 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 and crossed 60 lakh on September 28. According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 8,34,65,975 samples have been tested up to October 7 with 11,94,321 samples being tested on Wednesday. The 971 new fatalities include 355 from Maharashtra, 113 from Karnataka, 67 from Tamil Nadu, 58 from West Bengal, 47 from Uttar Pradesh, 35 from Delhi, 34 from Andhra Pradesh, 33 from Punjab and 30 Chhattisgarh. A total of 1,05, 526 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 39,072. (editor@dailyworld.in)