India logs 10,197 new Covid infections; active cases decline

India's Covid tally rose to 3,44,66,598 on Wednesday with 10,197 fresh cases, while the active cases have declined to 1,28,555, the lowest in 527 days, according to the Union health ministry's data.

The death toll climbed to 4,64,153 after 301 more fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 40 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 143 consecutive days now.

The active cases have declined to 1,28,555 comprising 0.37 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.28 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the health ministry said.

A decrease of 2,238 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.82 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for the last 44 days.

The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.96 per cent. It has been below 2 per cent for the last 54 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,38,73,890, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.35 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 113.68 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 had crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 301 new fatalities include 210 from Kerala and 34 from Maharashtra.

Of the 210 deaths, 39 were reported over the last few days and 171 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the Supreme Court directions, a Kerala government statement had said on Tuesday.

A total of 4,64,153 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,40,636 from Maharashtra, 38,153 from Karnataka, 36,311 from Tamil Nadu, 36,087 from Kerala, 25,095 from Delhi, 22,909 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,333 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.