The single-day rise in fresh cases was recorded below 40,000 after 102 days, bringing India's COVID-19 infection tally to 3,03,16,897, while the daily fatalities remained below 1,000 for the second consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

India saw 37,566 new cases being reported in a day, while the COVID-19 death toll rose to 3,97,637 with 907 daily fatalities, the lowest in 77 days.

According to the data published at 7 am, 32.90 crore cumulative vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

The number of active cases has further declined to 5,52,659, comprising 1.82 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.87 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

A net decline of 20,335 cases has been recorded in the virus count in a span of 24 hours.

Also, 17,68,008 tests were conducted on Monday, taking the total cumulative tests done so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 40,81,39,287, while the daily positivity rate has declined to 2.12 per cent . It has been less than 5 per cent for 22 consecutive days, the ministry said.

The weekly positivity rate has declined to 2.74 per cent.

Recoveries continue to outnumber daily new cases for the 47th consecutive day. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,93,66,601, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.31 per cent, the data stated.

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 one crore on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4 and 3 crore on June 23.

The 907 new fatalities include 287 from Maharashtra, 110 from Kerala, 98 from Tamil Nadu and 93 from Karnataka.

A total of 3,97,637 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,21,573 from Maharashtra, 34,836 from Karnataka, 32,399 from Tamil Nadu, 24,967 from Delhi, 22,559 from Uttar Pradesh, 17,644 from West Bengal, 16,011 from Punjab and 13,437 from Chhattisgarh.

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. PTI PLB