India on Wednesday reported 2,08,921 COVID-19 infections, pushing the overall tally of cases to 2,71,57,795, as the country conducted 22,17,320 coronavirus tests, its highest-ever in a day, according to Union Health Ministry data.

The death toll also climbed to 3,11,388 with 4,157 fatalities reported in a 24-hour period, the data updated at 8 am showed.

A total of 22,17,320 tests, the highest in a day, were conducted on Tuesday taking the cumulative number so far in the country to 33,48,11,496, while the daily positivity declined to 9.42 per cent, the ministry said.

This is the second day in a row that the case positivity rate has remained below 10 per cent, the ministry said. The weekly positivity rate has also declined to 11.45 per cent.

The updated data showed that the number of active cases have further come down to 24,95,591, with a net decline of 91,191 in a span of 24 hours.

The active cases now constituting 9.19 per cent of the total infections.

The data also showed that 2,95,955 patients recovered from the virus in a span of 24 hours, pushing the total recoveries so far to 2,43,50,816. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 89.66 per cent, it showed.

The case fatality rate was 1.15 per cent, the data showed.

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.

The country crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore cases on May 4.

The 4,157 new fatalities include 1,137 from Maharashtra, 588 from Karnataka, 468 from Tamil Nadu, 177 from Kerala , 174 from Punjab, 157 each from Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, 156 from Delhi, 128 from Haryana, 106 from Andhra Pradesh, 105 from Rajasthan and 104 from Bihar, according to the ministry data.

A total of 3,11,388 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 90,349 from Maharashtra, 26,399 from Karnataka, 23,565 from Delhi, 21,340 from Tamil Nadu, 19,519 from Uttar Pradesh, 14,674 from West Bengal, 13,642 from Punjab and 12,723 from Chhattisgarh.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities or preexisting health conditions.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that the state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.