COVID-19: India records 21,257 cases, 271 deaths

With 21,257 people testing positive for the coronavirus infection in a day, India's total tally of cases rose to 3,39,15,569, while the number of active cases declined to 2,40,221, the lowest in 205 days, according to data updated by the Union Health Ministry on Friday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,50,127 with 271 new fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 14 straight days.

The number of active cases has declined to 2,40,221, accounting for 0.71 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.96 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A decrease of 3,977 cases has been recorded in the active caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Also, 13,85,706 tests were conducted on Thursday taking the total number of tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 58,00,43,190.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.53 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for the last 39 days.

The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.64 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 105 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,32,25,221, 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 crossed 93.17 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; 80 lakh on October 29; 90 lakh on November 20; and the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore COVID-19 cases on May 4 and three crore on June 23.