With 9,419 more people testing positive for Covid in a day, India's infection tally rose to 3,46,66,241, while the active cases increased to 94,742, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Thursday.

The death toll climbed to 4,74,111 after 159 fresh fatalities were reported, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 10,000 for 13 straight days and less than 50,000 for 165 consecutive days now.

The active cases have increased to 94,742 comprising 0.27 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.36 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the Health Ministry said.

An increase of 1,009 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.73 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for the last 66 days.

The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.74 per cent. It has been below one per cent for the last 25 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,40,97,388, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.37 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 130.39 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 had crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.