India logged 43,654 fresh Covid-19 cases taking its tally to 3,14,84,605, while 640 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 4,22,022, according to Union Health Ministry data on Wednesday.

The number of active cases stood at 3,99,436, an increase of 1,336 in a span of 24 hours, and comprises 1.27 per cent of the total infections. The national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 97.39 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

As many as 17,36,857 Covid-19 tests were conducted on Tuesday, taking the total number of tests conducted so far to 46,09,00,978.

The daily positivity rate increased to 2.51 per cent from 1.73 per cent on Tuesday. The weekly positivity rate stood at 2.36 per cent, the data showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,06,63,147, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, it stated.

The total number of Covid vaccine doses administered so far as part of the nationwide vaccination drive has reached 44.61 crore.

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.

The caseload crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 640 new fatalities include 254 from Maharashtra, 156 from Kerala and 60 from Odisha.

A total of 4,22,022 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,31,859 from Maharashtra, 36,437 from Karnataka, 33,966 from Tamil Nadu, 25,046 from Delhi, 22,754 from Uttar Pradesh and 18,095 from West Bengal.

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.