India logged 12,729 new coronavirus infections taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,43,33,754, while the active cases increased to 1,48,922, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll climbed to 4,59,873 with 221 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 28 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 131 consecutive days now.

The active cases comprise 0.43 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.23 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A rise of 343 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.90 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for last 32 days. The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 1.25 per cent. It has been below two per cent for the last 42 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,37,24,959, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.34 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 107.70 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 221 new fatalities include 136 from Kerala, and 32 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,59,873 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,40,345 from Maharashtra, 38,095 from Karnataka, 36,191 from Tamil Nadu, 32,734 from Kerala, 25,091 from Delhi, 22,902 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,188 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.