India reports 145 COVID-19 deaths, lowest in eight months; recovery rate now 96.59%

New Delhi: The daily coronavirus infections fell below 14,000 for the second time this month taking India’s COVID-19 caseload to 1,05,71,773, while 145 new fatalities were recorded, the lowest in around eight months, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. A total of 13,788 infections have been reported in a day. The country’s toll increased to 1,52,419 with 145 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. The recoveries have crossed 1.02 crore. The daily COVID-19 infections were 12,548 on 12 January. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,02,11,342 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate of 96.59 percent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.44 percent. The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 3 lakh. There are 2,08,012 active cases of coronavirus infections in the country which comprises 1.97 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 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, crossed 80 lakh on 29 October, 90 lakh on 20 November and surpassed the one-crore mark on 19 December. According to the ICMR, 18,70,93,036 samples have been tested up to January 17 with 5,48,168 samples being tested on Sunday.