India records 11,850 fresh COVID-19 cases, 555 fatalities; active cases lowest in 274 days

New Delhi: A total of 11,850 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in a span of 24 hours, taking the country's infection tally to 3,44,26,036, while the active cases declined to 1,36,308, the lowest in 274 days, according to the health ministry data updated on Saturday. The coronavirus death toll climbed to 4,63,245, with 555 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 36 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 139 consecutive days now. The active cases in India have declined to 1,36,308, comprising 0.40 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.26 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 1,108 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, it noted. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.94 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for last 40 days.

Weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 1.05 per cent. It has been below 2 per cent for the last 50 days, according to the ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,38,26,483, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.35 per cent. The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 111.40 crore. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7 last year, 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 555 latest Covid fatalities include 471 from Kerala and 41 from Maharashtra. Kerala has been reconciling Covid deaths since the last few days, hence the death tally of the state is high. A total of 4,63,245 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,40,516 from Maharashtra, 38,140 from Karnataka, 36,259 from Tamil Nadu, 35,511 from Kerala, 25,093 from Delhi, 22,905 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,294 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.