India reports lowest COVID-19 cases in 44 days

New Delhi: The single day rise in coronavirus cases in India fell below the 2-lakh mark for the second time this month taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,75,55,457, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

A total of 1,86,364 new coronavirus infections were reported in a day, the lowest in around 44 days, while the death toll climbed to 3,18,895 with 3,660 daily deaths, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Also, 20,70,508 tests were conducted on Thursday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 33,90,39,861.

The daily positivity has declined to 9 per cent. It has been less than 10 per cent for four consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has further declined to 10.42 per cent.

The active cases have further reduced to 23,43,152 comprising 8.50 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 90.34 per cent.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,48,93,410, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.16 per cent, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 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 2 crore on May 4.