A total of 11,850 new coronavirus infections were reported in a span of 24 hours, taking the country's infection tally to 3,44, 26,036, while the active cases declined to 1,36,308, the lowest in 274 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,63,245 with 555 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 36 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 139 consecutive days now.

The active cases have declined to 1,36,308, comprising 0.40 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.26 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the health ministry said.

A decrease of 1,108 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.94 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for last 40 days. The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 1.05 per cent. It has been below 2 per cent for the last 50 days, according to the health ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,38,26, 483, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.35 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 111.40 crores.

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.