India sees 25,072 new Covid cases, lowest in 160 days

India saw a single-day rise of 25,072 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest in 160 days, while active cases declined to 3,33,924, comprising 1.03 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Monday.

The tally of COVID-19 cases has increased to 3,24,49,306, while the death toll has climbed to 4,34,756 with 389 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The active cases have declined to 3,33,924, the lowest in 155 days, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 97.63 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the health ministry said.

A reduction of 19,474 cases has been recorded in the total number of active COVID-19 cases in a span of 24 hours.

Also, 12,95,160 tests were conducted on Sunday, taking the cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 50,75,51,399.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.94 per cent. It has been less than 3 per cent for the last 28 days.

Weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.91 per cent. It has been below 3 per cent for the last 59 days, according to the health ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,16,80,626, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated.

Cumulatively, 58.25 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive till Monday morning.

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 389 new fatalities include 145 from Maharashtra, 69 from Odisha and 66 from Kerala.

A total of 4,34,756 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,35,962 from Maharashtra, 37,145 from Karnataka, 34,709 from Tamil Nadu, 25,079 from Delhi, 22,792  from Uttar Pradesh, 19,494 from Kerala and 18,364 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.