New Delhi, March 4 : Fresh Covid-19 cases are showing a worrying trend over the last two weeks. Single-day rise of 17,407 new cases reported in the last 24 hours pushed India's tally to 1,11,56,923 on Thursday, while 89 fatalities recorded in the same duration mounted the death toll to 1,57,435, the Union Health Ministry informed. The rise in new cases of this magnitude was last reported in the early week of January. The rate of active cases has also been rising gradually, pushing it to 1.55 per cent. As per the Ministry's data, there are 1,73,413 active cases at present after 14,031 patients were discharged in a day. The experts have expressed number of possibilities which could be owed to the stride ranging from lax attitude of people towards following Covid protocols to likeability of "mutations and new strains" causing the surge, as has been studied by the laboratories involved in the Covid detection across the country. In mid February, officials had said that the average daily new infections oscillated between 9,000 to 12,000 while the deaths were between 78 to 120. On February 9, India had reported 9,110 new cases, the lowest this year so far. Last year, the lowest 9,633 cases were recorded on June 3. Till now, 1,08,26,075 persons have been discharged so far. The recovery rate has reduced to 97.03 per cent. The Ministry also informed that 7,75,631 samples were tested on Wednesday. The cumulative tests done by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) so far stands at 21,91,78,908. So far, 1,66,16,048 doses of corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on January 16 after approval for 'Covishield' and 'Covaxin'. The third phase of vaccination against Covid-19 pandemic began on Monday covering 27 crore of people above 60 and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities at 10,000 government and over 20,000 private vaccination centres. While people will be vaccinated free of cost at government hospitals, those taking the shots at private hospitals will have to pay. /IANS