India reported 226 new coronavirus infections, raising the tally to 4.46 crore, while the active cases increased to 3,653, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday (December 31).

The death toll stands at 5,30,702 with three fatalities recorded by Kerala, data updated at 8 am by the ministry stated. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.12 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was pegged at 0.15 per cent.

The ministry said 1,87,983 tests for detection of Covid were conducted in the last 24 hours.
The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.80 per cent, according to the health ministry website.

An increase of 44 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 case count in a span of 24 hours.

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The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,44,029, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent, the ministry said.

So far, a total of 4,46,78,384 cases have been recorded in the country.

According to the ministry, 220.10 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 inoculation drive.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakhs on August 23, 40 lakhs on September 5, and 50 lakhs on September 16. It went past 60 lakhs on September 28, 70 lakhs on October 11, crossed 80 lakhs on October 29, 90 lakhs on November 20, and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore cases on May 4, 2021, three crore cases on June 23, and four crore cases on January 25 this year.

(With agency inputs)