India saw a single-day rise of 11,106 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's tally to 3,44,89,623, while the active cases have declined to 1,26,620, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Friday.
The death toll has climbed to 4,65,082 with 459 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 42 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 145 consecutive days now.
The active cases have increased to 1,26,620 comprising 0.37 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.28 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the health ministry said.
A decrease of 2,142 cases has been recorded in the active number of COVID-19 cases in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.98 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for last 46 days.
Weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.92 per cent. It has been below two per cent for the last 56 days, according to the health ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,38,97,921 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.35 per cent.
The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 115.23 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 459 new fatalities include 372 from Kerala and 24 from Maharashtra.
Of the 372 deaths, 51 were reported over the last few days and 321 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, a Kerala state government release said on Thursday.
A total of 4,65,082 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,40,692 from Maharashtra, 38,165 from Karnataka, 36,847 from Kerala, 36,336 from Tamil Nadu 25,095 from Delhi, 22,909 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,355 from West Bengal.
The health 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 (ICMR)," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
