With 18,313 fresh cases reported in a day, India's COVID-19 tally has climbed to 4,39,38,764, while the count of active cases of the infection has declined to 1,45,026, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday.
The death toll due to the viral disease has gone up to 5,26,110 with 57 more fatalities, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.
The active cases account for 0.34 per cent of the total caseload, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.47 per cent, the ministry said.
A decline of 2,486 cases was recorded in the active Covid caseload in a span of 24 hours, it added.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.31 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 4.57 per cent, according to the data.
A total of 87.36 crore tests have so far been conducted to detect the viral infection in the country, including 4,25,337 in the last 24 hours.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has gone up to 4,32,67,571, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.2 per cent, the data showed.
According to the ministry, 202.79 crore vaccine doses have so far been administered under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.
India's COVID-19 case tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 2020, 40 lakh on September 5, 2020, 50 lakh on September 16, 2020, 60 lakh on September 28, 2020, 70 lakh on October 11, 2020, 80 lakh on October 29, 2020, 90 lakh on November 20, 2020 and the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.
The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore Covid cases on May 4, 2021, the three-crore mark on June 23, 2021 and four crore cases on January 25 this year.
Of the 57 fatalities recorded in the 24-hour period, 19 were from Kerala, 12 from Maharashtra, seven from West Bengal, four from Meghalaya, two each from Bihar, Delhi and Odisha, and one each was reported from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh.
A total of 5,26,167 deaths due to Covid have so far been reported in the country, including 1,48,080 from Maharashtra, 70,412 from Kerala, 40,134 from Karnataka, 38,032 from Tamil Nadu, 26,305 from Delhi, 23,561 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,334 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 the state-wise distribution of the figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
