India registers 37,593 new coronavirus infections, 648 deaths; national recovery rate at 97.67%

New Delhi: India logged 37,593 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases increased marginally to 3,22,327, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday. The total tally of COVID-19 cases increased to 3,25,12,366 and the death toll climbed to 4,35,758 with 648 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The active cases comprise 0.99 percent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.67 percent, the ministry said. An increase of 2,776 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. As many as 17,92,755 tests were conducted on Tuesday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 51,11,84,547. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.10 percent. It has been less than three percent for the last 30 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.92 percent. It has been below three percent for the last 61 days, according to the ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,17,54,281, while the case fatality rate  stands at 1.34 percent, the data stated. Cumulatively, 59.55 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive till Wednesday morning. 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. The 648 new fatalities include 288 from Maharashtra and 173 from Kerala. A total of 4,35,758 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,36,355 from Maharashtra, 37,184 from Karnataka, 34,761 from Tamil Nadu, 25,079 from Delhi, 22,794 from Uttar Pradesh, 19,757 from Kerala and 18,383 from West Bengal. The ministry stressed that more than 70 percent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities. “Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.