India registers 13,596 new COVID-19 infections, 166 fresh fatalities; active cases lowest in 221 days

New Delhi: India added 13,596 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,40,81,315, while the active cases declined to 1,89,694, the lowest in 221 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll climbed to 4,52,290 with 166 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 24 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 113 consecutive days now. The active cases comprise 0.56 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.12 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 6,152 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 11, 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.