DW BUREAU / chandigrah With 1,309 fresh coronavirus cases in Punjab, the infection tally rose to 1,93,345 on Thursday, while 18 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 5,996 in the state, according to a medical bulletin. The number of active cases also increased from 9,402 on Wednesday to 10,069 on Thursday. A total of 620 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from infection, taking the number of cured persons to 1,77,280, the bulletin said. There are 20 critical patients who are on ventilator support, while 182 are on oxygen support. A total of 52,94,288 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state. Meanwhile, Chandigarh reported 108 new COVID-19 cases, taking the infection count to 22,697 in the Union Territory. No coronavirus-related death was reported in the past 24 hours in the city. The death toll stands at 357. The number of active cases rose from 816 on Wednesday to 859 on Thursday in Chandigarh. A total of 65 patients were discharged after they recovered from the infection, taking the number of cured persons to 21,481 in the Union Territory. A total of 2,73,400 samples have been taken for testing so far and of them, 2,49,733 tested negative while reports of 113 samples were awaited. India recorded its highest daily tally of COVID-19 cases this year with 22,854 new infections, taking the total tally to 1,12,85,561, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The country last recorded such an increase in daily cases 76 days ago on December 25 when it registered 23,067 infections in a day. The death toll increased to 1,58,189 with 126 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. The total active cases have increased to 1,89,226 which now comprises 1.68 per cent of the total infections. (editor@dailyworld.in)