India reports 18,645 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours; national recovery rate rises to 96.42%

New Delhi: India’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,04,50,284 with 18,645 infections being reported in a day, while the recoveries have surged to 1,00,75,950, according to the Union Health Ministry’s data updated on Sunday. The death toll reached 1,50,999 with 201 more people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease so far surged to 1,00,75,950, pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate of 96.42 percent, while the case fatality rate dropped to 1.44 percent. The COVID-19 active caseload remained below three lakh for the 20th consecutive day. There are 2,23,335 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprise 2.14 percent of the total caseload, the data stated. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on 7 August, 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. According to the ICMR, 18,10,96,622 samples have been tested so far with 8,43,307 samples being tested on Saturday.