India records 18,132 fresh COVID-19 cases; national recovery rate at 98%

New Delhi: India logged 18,132 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 215 days, taking the country’s total tally of cases to 3,39,71,607, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98 percent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll climbed to 4,50,782 with 193 fresh fatalities. The active cases have declined to 2,27,347, the lowest in 209 days, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 17 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 106 consecutive days now. 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 June 23.