India logged 3,17,532 new coronavirus infections, the highest in 249 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,82,18,773, which includes 9,287 cases of the Omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The active cases rose to 19,24,051, the highest in 234 days, while the death toll climbed to 4,87,693 with 491 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

There has been a 3.63 per cent increase in Omicron cases since Wednesday, the ministry said.

Experts said it is not possible to undertake genome sequencing of each and every sample but stressed that the current wave is largely being driven by Omicron.

The active cases comprise 5.03 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.09 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 93,051 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The country had reported 3,11,170 cases in a single day on May 15 last year.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 16.41 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 16.06 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,58,07,029, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.28 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 159.67 crore.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 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 491 new fatalities include 134 from Kerala and 49 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,87,693 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,41,934 from Maharashtra, 51,160 from Kerala, 38,486 from Karnataka, 37,073 from Tamil Nadu, 25,460 from Delhi, 22,990 from Uttar Pradesh and 20,193 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.