With 7,081 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India's total tally of cases rose to 3,47,40,275, while the active cases declined to 83,913, the lowest in 570 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The death count has climbed to 4,77,422, with 264 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 52 days now.

The active cases have declined to 83,913, comprising 0.24 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.38 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the health ministry said.

A decline of 652 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.58 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for last 76 days The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 0.61 per cent. It has been below 1 per cent for the last 35 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,41,78,940, while the case fatality rate has been recorded at 1.37 per cent. 

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 137.46 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.

The 264 new fatalities include 218 from Kerala and 11 from Maharashtra.

Kerala has been reconciling Covid deaths for the past few days so the death tally of the state is high.

A total of 4,77,422 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,41,340 from Maharashtra, 44,407 from Kerala, 38,287 from Karnataka, 36,676 from Tamil Nadu, 25,100 from Delhi, 22,915 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,660 from West Bengal.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

Source: NDTV

BDST: 1611 HRS, DEC 19, 2021
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