COVID-19: With 15,102 new cases, India's active caseload falls to 1,64,522

India logged 15,102 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,28,67,031, while the active cases declined to 1,64,522, according to the health ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 5,12,622 with 278 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The daily COVID-19 cases have remained below one lakh for 17 consecutive days.

The active cases comprises 0.38 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.42 per cent, the health ministry said.

A reduction of 16,553 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 7 August, 2020, 30 lakh on 23 August, 40 lakh on 5 September and 50 lakh on 16 September. It went past 60 lakh on 28 September, 70 lakh on 11 October, crossed 80 lakh on 29 October, 90 lakh on 20 November and surpassed the one-crore mark on 19 December.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on 4 May and three crore on 23 June last year.