India logged 18,987 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to 3,40,20,730 on Thursday, while the national Covid recovery rate increased to 98.07 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry’s data.

The death toll climbed to 4,51,435 with 246 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 20 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 109 consecutive days now.

The active cases have declined to 2,06,586, the lowest in 215 days, comprising 0.61 per cent of the total infections while the national Covid recovery rate was recorded at 98.07 per cent, the ministry said.

A decrease of 1067 cases has been recorded in the active Covid caseload in a span of 24 hours.

A total of 13,01,083 tests were conducted on Wednesday, taking the number of cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 58,76,64,525.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,33,62,709, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.46 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.44 per cent, according to the Health Ministry.

Over 96.82 crore Covid vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

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 246 new fatalities include 123 from Kerala and 49 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,51,435 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,39,670 from Maharashtra, 37,916 from Karnataka, 35,833 from Tamil Nadu, 26,571 from Kerala, 25,089 from Delhi, 22,897 from Uttar Pradesh and 18,935 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.