With 1,34,154 fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally has climbed to 2,84,41,986 out of which 2,63,90,584 people have recuperated, while the daily positivity rate has further dropped to 6.21 per cent, the health ministry said on Thursday.

The death toll due to the viral disease has climbed to 3,37,989 with 2,887 more people succumbing to it, while the number of active COVID-19 cases was recorded below 20 lakh for the third consecutive day, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.

Also, 21,59,873 tests were conducted on Wednesday to detect COVID-19, taking the total number of such tests conducted so far in the country to 35,37,82,648, while the daily positivity was recorded at 6.21 per cent. It has been less than 10 per cent for 10 consecutive days now, the ministry said.

The weekly positivity rate has declined to 7.66 per cent.

The number of active cases has reduced to 17,13,413, accounting for 6.02 per cent of the total number of cases, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 92.79 per cent. A net decline of 80,232 cases was recorded in the COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, the ministry said.

Recoveries continued to outnumber the fresh cases for the 21st day in a row.

While the case fatality rate has gone up to 1.19 per cent, the data showed.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, the 30-lakh mark on August 23, the 40-lakh mark on September 5 and the 50-lakh mark on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28 last year, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore coronavirus cases on May 4 this year.

The 2,887 fresh fatalities include 553 from Maharashtra, 483 from Tamil Nadu, 463 from Karnataka, 213 from Kerala, 135 from West Bengal, 115 from Uttar Pradesh and 103 from Delhi.

The total number of 3,37,989 deaths reported so far in the country includes 96,751 from Maharashtra, 30,017 from Karnataka, 25,205 from Tamil Nadu, 24,402 from Delhi, 20,787 from Uttar Pradesh, 15,813 from West Bengal, 14,748 from Punjab and 13,117 from Chhattisgarh.

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," it said on its website, adding that a state-wise distribution of the figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.