The Union Health Ministry on Thursday stated that Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are among the top six states contributing maximum to the country's new COVID-19 cases and daily deaths.

A total of 44,489 new confirmed COVID cases were registered in the country in a span of a day, of which 60.72 per cent is contributed by six States/UT namely Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, according to the latest updates by the Health Ministry.

The Health Ministry stated that 60.50 per cent of the 524 COVID-19 fatalities reported on Wednesday are concentrated in six States/UTs- Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are the common states among the top six states contributing maximum to new cases as well as daily deaths, it added.

Kerala leads the new confirmed COVID-19 tally with 6,491 new cases. Maharashtra has reported 6,159 new cases, while Delhi registered another 5,246 new cases in a span of 24 hours.

Delhi with 99 deaths reported the maximum new fatalities, followed by Maharashtra 65 and West Bengal with 51 deaths, as per the ministry's latest data.

With 44,489 new infections, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 92,66,705 on Thursday and the death toll mounted to 1,35,223 with 524 fresh fatalities.

The country's active caseload continued to remain below 5 lakh for the 16th consecutive day on Thursday. There are 4,52,344 active cases in the country, which comprises 4.88 per cent of the total caseload, as per the Union Health Ministry.

The total recoveries have increased to 86,79,138, with 36,367 new recoveries. The national recovery rate stands at 93.66 per cent while the fatality rate is at 1.46 per cent, the ministry added.