India logged 45,951 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,03,62,848, while daily fatalities remained below 1,000 for the third consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The death toll rose to 3,98,454 with 817 fresh fatalities, the lowest in 81 days.
According to the data published at 7 am, cumulatively 33.28 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive.
The active cases further declined to 5,37,064 comprising 1.77 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.92 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.
As many as 19,60,757 tests were conducted on Tuesday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 41,01,00,044 while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.34 per cent.
It has been less than five per cent for 23 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has declined to 2.69 per cent.
Recoveries continue to outnumber daily new cases for the 48th consecutive day.The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,94,27,330 and the case fatality rate stands at 1.31 per cent, the data stated.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.
The 817 new fatalities include 231 from Maharashtra, 118 from Tamil Nadu and 104 from Karnataka.
A total of 3,98,454 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,21,804 from Maharashtra, 34,929 from Karnataka, 32,506 from Tamil Nadu, 24,971 from Delhi, 22,577 from Uttar Pradesh, 17,679 from West Bengal and 16,033 from Punjab.
The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.