India sees over 18K new COVID-19 cases, 160 deaths

A single-day rise of 18,454 fresh cases pushed India's COVID-19 tally to 3,41,27,450, while the number of active infections rose to 1,78,831, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The death toll from the pandemic climbed to 4,52,811 with 160 new fatalities, showed the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 27 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 116 consecutive days now.

The number of active cases has increased to 1,78,831, comprising 0.52 per cent of the total infections -- the lowest since March 2020 -- while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.15 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the Health Ministry said.

An increase of 733 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 case count in a span of 24 hours.

Also, 12,47,506 tests were conducted on Wednesday, taking the cumulative number of tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 59,57,42,218.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.48 per cent. It has been less than 3 per cent for the last 52 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.34 per cent. It has been below 3 per cent for the last 118 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,34,95,808, 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 100 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, crossed 80 lakh on October 29; 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed one crore on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore novel coronavirus cases on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 160 new fatalities include 82 from Kerala, 21 from Maharashtra and 20 from Tamil Nadu.

A total of 4,52,811 coronavirus-linked deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,39,886 from Maharashtra, 37,976 from Karnataka, 35,948 from Tamil Nadu, 27,084 from Kerala, 25,090 from Delhi, 22,898 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,007 from West Bengal.

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.