India on Wednesday went past the psychological 15-lakh mark and registered 48,513 fresh novel Coronavirus cases and 768 new deaths, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data showed.

India still the third worst-hit nation by the pandemic now has 15,31,669 cases and 34,193 people have lost their lives to the virus while 9,88,029 have recovered.

The total number of active cases are 5,09,447. The recovery rate has further improved to 64.50 per cent. Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with 3,83,723 cases with experts suggesting that it has acquired herd immunity as there were much less fresh cases reported on Tuesday.

It is followed by Tamil Nadu (2,20,716), Delhi (1,32,275) and Karnataka (1,01,465). With 1,056 new Covid-19 cases and 28 deaths in the last 24 hours, the national capital coronavirus tally rose to 1,32,275 while the death toll mounted to 3,881.