India logged 28,204 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 147 days, taking the total tally of cases to 3,19,98,158, while the active cases fell to 3,88,508, the lowest in 139 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 97.45 per cent, which is the highest ever recovery rate achieved, the ministry said.

The death toll has climbed to 4,28,682 with 373 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The active cases comprise 1.21 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A decrease of 13,680 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

As many as 15,11,313 tests were conducted on Monday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 48,32,78,545.

The daily positivity rate has declined to 1.87 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for the last 15 days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.36 per cent.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,11,80,968, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated.

Cumulatively, 51.45 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive till Tuesday morning.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 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 three crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 373 new fatalities include 105 from Kerala and 68 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,28,682 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,34,064 from Maharashtra, 36,817 from Karnataka, 34,340 from Tamil Nadu, 25,067 from Delhi, 22,774 from Uttar Pradesh, 18,240 from West Bengal and 17,852 from Kerala.

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.