During the past 24 hours, 1,129 deaths were reported from across the country, reports Xinhua.

"The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across India is 5,732,518 and death toll is 91,149," reads the information released by the ministry.

According to ministry officials, 4,674,987 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.

"The number of active cases in the country right now is 966,382," the information released by the ministry further reads.

Meanwhile, 67,436,031 samples were tested so far across the country, out of which 1,156,569 tests were conducted on Wednesday alone, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said Thursday.

On Wednesday late evening India's junior railways minister Suresh Angadi died due to COVID-19, officials said. The 65-year-old Angadi died nearly two weeks after he tested positive for coronavirus infection. He was admitted to AIIMS in Delhi after his condition worsened.

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized on the need to increase focus on "effective testing, tracing, treatment and surveillance" to bring COVID-19 outbreak in the country under control.

"Effective messaging is necessary due to the asymptomatic nature of the infection which may lead to doubts about the efficacy of tests," Modi said during his virtual meeting with chief ministers of seven states with the highest number of COVID-19 cases.

"In such a situation, rumours may rise. It might raise doubts in the minds of the people that testing is bad. Some people also make the mistake of underestimating the severity of the infection."

Modi laid emphasis on developing the habit of using face masks on a daily basis. He also announced that the limit of using the State Disaster Response Fund for COVID-19 specific infrastructure has been increased from 35 percent to 50 percent.

Globally India is the second worst-hit country due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Also read: India’s Covid-19 cases reach 2.4 million