At 3,614, India records lowest single-day rise in Covid cases since May 12, 2020

India Saturday recorded its lowest single-day rise in Covid infections since May 12, 2020 as 3,614 fresh cases pushed the overall tally to 4,29,87,875 infections, even as the number of active cases dipped to 40,559, the Union Health Ministry said.

The death toll due to the viral disease went up to 5,15,803 with 89 more fatalities, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.

The active cases account for 0.09 per cent of the total caseload, while the country's COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.71 per cent, the ministry said.

A reduction of 1,660 cases was recorded in the active caseload in a span of 24 hours, it added.

The daily case count was the lowest since May 12, 2020, when the country had logged 3,604 cases, the ministry said. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has gone up to 4,24,31,513 and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.2 per cent.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.44 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was 0.52 per cent. A total of 77.77 crore tests to detect the coronavirus have been conducted so far, 8,21,122 of them in the last 24 hours.

The cumulative number of anti-Covid vaccine doses administered in the country has exceeded 179.91 crore.

The 89 new fatalities reported on Saturday include 73 from Kerala. A total of 5,15,803 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,43,750 from Maharashtra, 66,762 from Kerala, 40,016 from Karnataka, 38,023 from Tamil Nadu, 26,140 from Delhi, 23,490 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,186 from West Bengal.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, and 50 lakh on September 16, 2020. It went past the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore Covid cases on May 4 last year and the three-crore mark on June 23 last year.