India records 8,774 new COVID-19 cases, active cases lowest in 543 days

New Delhi: India saw a single-day rise of 8,774 new coronavirus infections, taking the country's total tally of cases to 3,45,72,523, while the active cases have declined to 1,05,69, the lowest in 543 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,68,554, with 621 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 51 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 154 consecutive days now.

The active cases have declined to 1,05,691, comprising 0.31 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.34 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the Health Ministry said.

A decrease of 1,328 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.80 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for the last 55 days.

The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.85 per cent. It has been below one per cent for the last 14 days, according to the Health Ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,39,98,278, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.36 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country, so far, under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 121.94 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.