India added 15,823 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to 3,40,01,743 on Wednesday, while the national Covid recovery rate increased to 98.06 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry's data.

The death toll reached 4,51,189 with 226 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 19 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 108 consecutive days now.

The active cases have declined to 2,07,653, the lowest in 214 days, comprising 0.61 per cent of the total infections while the national Covid recovery rate was recorded at 98.06 per cent, the ministry said.

A decrease of 7,247 cases has been recorded in the active Covid caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for the last 44 days.

The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.46 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 110 days, according to the ministry.

A total of 13,25,399 tests were conducted on Tuesday, taking the number of cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 58,63,63,442.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 33342901, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent.

Over 96.43 crore Covid vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

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 226 new fatalities include 106 from Kerala and 43 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,51,189 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,39,621 from Maharashtra, 37,906 from Karnataka, 35,814 from Tamil Nadu, 26,448 from Kerala, 25,089 from Delhi, 22,896 from Uttar Pradesh and 18,924 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.