India reports 6,984 new COVID-19 infections, active cases decline to 87,562

New Delhi: India reported 6,984 new cases of coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,47,10,628 while the active cases declined to 87,562, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 4,76,135 with 247 fresh 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 48 days now.

The active cases comprise 0.25 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.38 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

Out of 6,984 new cases and 247 deaths in the country, Kerala reported 3,377 new COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths in the past 24 hours.

COVID-19 | India reports 6,984 new cases, 8,168 recoveries, & 247 deaths in the last 24 hours

Active cases: 87,562
Total recoveries: 3,41,46,931
Death toll: 4,76,135

Total vaccination: 1,34,61,14,483 doses pic.twitter.com/1Hsn8vh40G — ANI (@ANI) December 15, 2021

A decline of 1,431 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. 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.