India logs 10,229 Covid infections, active cases lowest in 523 days

India's Covid tally rose to 3,44,47,536 with 10,229 more people testing positive for coronavirus, while the active cases have declined to 1,34,096, the lowest in 523 days, according to the Union health ministry's data updated on Monday.

The death toll reached 4,63,655 after 125 new fatalities were reported, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 38 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 141 consecutive days now.

The active cases have declined to 1,34, 096 comprising 0.39 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 health ministry said.

A decrease of 1,822 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.12 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for the last 42 days.

The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.99 per cent. It has been below 2 per cent for the last 52 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,38,49,785, 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 112.34 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 125 new fatalities include 65 from Kerala and 18 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,63,655 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,40,583 from Maharashtra, 38,145 from Karnataka, 36,284 from Tamil Nadu, 35,750 from Kerala, 25,094 from Delhi, 22,909 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,314 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.