India saw a single-day rise of 12,885 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's infection tally to 3,43,21,025, while the count of active cases has declined to 1,48,579, the lowest in 253 days, according to Union Health Ministry data on Thursday.
The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 4,59,652, with 461 more fatalities being recorded, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 27 straight days, and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 130 consecutive days now.
The tally of active cases has declined to 1,48,579 which comprises 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 health ministry said.
A decline of 2,630 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, as per the data.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for 31 days.
The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.17 per cent. This figure has been below two per cent for 41 days, according to the ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 3,37,12,794, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.34 per cent.
The cumulative number of vaccine doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 107.63 crore.
India's COVID-19 infection tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19.
India crossed the grim milestones of two crore cases on May 4 and three crore on June 23.
The 461 new fatalities include 362 from Kerala, and 39 from Maharashtra.
In Kerala, of the 362 deaths, 51 were reported over the last few days, 72 were not confirmed until June 18 last year due to the lack of adequate documentation and 239 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the Supreme Court directions, the state government said on Wednesday.
A total of 4,59,652 COVID-19 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,40,313 from Maharashtra, 38,091 from Karnataka, 36,176 from Tamil Nadu, 32,598 from Kerala, 25,091 from Delhi, 22,902 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,174 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," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
