India logs 18,346 new COVID-19 cases, lowest in 209 days; Kerala reports 8,850 infections alone

India logged 18,346 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 209 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,38,53,048, while the active cases declined to 2,52,902, the lowest in 201 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The toll climbed to 4,49,260 with 263 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. Of the 18,346 new infections reported in India in the last 24 hours, Kerala reported 8,850 new cases and 149 deaths. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has remained below 30,000 for 11 straight days. The active cases comprise 0.75 percent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.93 percent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 11,556 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 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 one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on 23 June. With inputs from PTI