India records 13,091 fresh cases of Covid, active cases lowest in 266 days

New Delhi: India added 13,091 new coronavirus infections in a span of 24 hours taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,44,01,670, while the active cases declined to 1,38,556, the lowest in 266 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The death toll climbed to 4,62,189 with 340 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 34 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 137 consecutive days now.

The active cases comprise 0.40 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.25 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A decrease of 1,127 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.10 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for last 38 days. The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 1.18 per cent. It has been below two per cent for the last 48 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,38,00,925 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.34 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 110.23 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 340 new fatalities include 259 from Kerala and 17 from Maharashtra.Of the 259 deaths, 48 were reported over the last few days and 211 were designated as Covid deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and Supreme Court directions, a Kerala state government release said on Wednesday.

A total of 4,62,189 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,40,447 from Maharashtra, 38,131 from Karnataka, 36,247 from Tamil Nadu, 34,621 from Kerala, 25,091 from Delhi, 22,904 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,267 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.