India logged 18,346 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 209 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,38,53,048, while the active cases declined to 2,52,902, the lowest in 201 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll climbed to 4,49,260 with 263 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections have remained below 30,000 for 11 straight days.

The active cases comprise 0.75 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.93 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A decrease of 11,556 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

As many as 11,41,642 tests were conducted on Monday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 57,53,94,042.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.61 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for last 36 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.66 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 102 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,31, 50,886, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 91.54 crores.

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 crores on May 4 and three crores on June 23.

The 263 new fatalities include 149 from Kerala and 26 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,49,260 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,39,233 from Maharashtra, 37,832 from Karnataka, 35,666 from Tamil Nadu, 25,526 from Kerala and 25,088 from Delhi, 22,894 from Uttar Pradesh, and 18,837 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.