India reports 8,306 new COVID-19 cases, active caseload lowest in 552 days

According to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data updated this morning, the active caseload currently stands at 98,416 - it is the lowest in 552 days.

NEW DELHI: India on Monday reported 8,306 new cases of COVID-19 infections, taking the total tally to 3,46,41,561, and 8,834 recoveries in the last 24 hours. According to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data updated this morning, the active COVID-19 caseload currently stands at 98,416 – it is the lowest in 552 days.

According to the data, the death toll climbed to 4,73,537 with 211 fresh fatalities. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 10,000 for ten straight days and less than 50,000 for 162 consecutive days now.

The active cases comprise 0.28 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.35 per cent, the ministry said. A decrease of 739 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, the data suggested.

On Sunday, India saw a single-day rise of 2,796 fatalities with Bihar carrying out a reconciliation exercise of its Covid data, pushing the country's death toll to 4,73,326, while 8,895 new infections were reported.

India's total tally of COVID-19 cases increased to 3,46,33,255, the data updated at 8 am showed. India had recorded a single-day rise of 3,998 fatalities on July 21 after Maharashtra carried out the 14th reconciliation exercise of its Covid data. 

As for a high 2,796 fatalities, the Union health ministry said, 2,426 reconciled deaths by Bihar were adjusted in Sunday's data. Kerala also cleared a backlog of 263 deaths. Hence, the nation's death tally is showing a spike.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has remained below 50,000 for 161 consecutive days now. 

The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.35 per cent, the health ministry said. A decrease of 819 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, it said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.73 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for the last 62 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 0.80 per cent. It has remained below 1 per cent for the last 21 days, according to the health ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 3,40,60,774 while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.37 per cent. The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country so far has exceeded 127.61 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 COVID-19 cases on May 4 this year and three crore on June 23. The 2,796 new fatalities include 2,426 from Bihar, 315 from Kerala and 14 from Maharashtra.