India registers 18,987 fresh COVID-19 cases, 246 new deaths; daily positivity rate at 1.46%

New Delhi: India recorded 18,987 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to 3,40,20,730 on Thursday, while the national COVID recovery rate increased to 98.07 percent, according to the Union Health Ministry’s data. The death toll reached 4,51,435 with 246 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 20 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 109 consecutive days now. The active cases have declined to 2,06,586 comprising 0.61 percent of the total infections while the national COVID recovery rate was recorded at 98.07 percent, the ministry said. A decrease of 1,067 cases has been recorded in the active COVID caseload in a span of  24 hours. A total of 13,01,083 tests were conducted on Wednesday, taking the number of cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 58,76,64,525. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 33362709, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.46 percent and the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.44 percent, according to the health ministry. Over 96.82 crore COVID vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. 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.