Active COVID-19 cases in country lowest in 552 days

With 8,306 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,46,41,561, while the active cases declined to 98,416, the lowest in 552 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The death toll climbed to 4,73,537 with 211 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 10,000 for ten straight days and less than 50,000 for 162 consecutive days now.

The active cases comrpise 0.28 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.35 per cent, the ministry said.

A decrease of 739 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.94 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for last 63 days. The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.78 per cent. It has been below one per cent for the last 22 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,40,69,608, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.37 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 127.93 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 the one-crore mark on December 19.

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

The 211 new fatalities include 161 from Kerala and 10 each from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and seven from Maharashtra.

Of the 161 deaths in Kerala, 23 were reported over the last few days and 138 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, a Kerala government release said on Sunday.

A total of 4,73,537 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,41,170 from Maharashtra, 41,600 from Kerala, 38,230 from Karnataka, 36,529 from Tamil Nadu, 25,098 from Delhi, 22,911 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,544 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.