India logs 71,365 Covid cases, active cases drop to 8.9 lakh

India logged 71,365 new coronavirus infections taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,24,10,976, while the active cases declined to 8,92,828, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 5,05,279 with 1,217 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 2.11 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.70 per cent, the ministry said.

A reduction of 1,02,063 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.54 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 7.57 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,10,12,869, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 170.87 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 last year.

The 1,217 new fatalities include 824 from Kerala and 57 from Maharashtra.

A total of 5,05,279 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,43,155 from Maharashtra, 59,939 from Kerala, 39,447 from Karnataka, 37,809 from Tamil Nadu, 26,010 from Delhi, 23,343 from Uttar Pradesh and 20,884 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.