India records 8,503 new COVID-19 infections

With 8,503 people testing positive for the coronavirus in a day, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,46,74,744, while the number of active cases roses to 94,943, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll mounted to 4,74,735 with the addition of 624 new 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 43 days now.

The number of active cases has increased to 94,943, comprising 0.27 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.36 per cent, the highest since March 2020,the Health Ministry said.

An increase of 201 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 case count in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.66 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for the last 67 days.The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 0.72 per cent. It has been below 1 per cent for the last 26 days, according to the Health Ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,41,05,066, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.37 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 131.18 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 crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore COVID-19 cases on May 4 and three crore on June 23.