India reports 31,443 COVID-19 cases, 2,020 deaths in last 24 hrs; total toll now at 4.1 lakh

New Delhi:  India’s COVID-19 death toll climbed to 4,10,784 with 2,020 new deaths recorded after Madhya Pradesh reconciled its fatality data, while 31,443 new coronavirus cases were reported, the lowest in 118 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases mounted to 3,09,05,819. The active cases have declined to 4,31,315 and comprise 1.40 percent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 97.28 percent, the data updated at 8 am showed. As many as 17,40,325 tests were conducted on Monday taking the total number of cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 43,40,58,138. The daily positivity rate has declined to 1.81 percent. It has been less than three percent for 22 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate stands at 2.28 percent. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,00,63,720 and the case fatality rate stands at 1.32 percent, the data stated. Cumulative vaccine doses administered so far have reached 38.14 crore under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 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. The 2,020 new fatalities include 1,481 from Madhya Pradesh, 146 from Maharashtra, and 100 from Kerala. A total of 4,10,784 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,26,024 from Maharashtra, 35,896 from Karnataka, 33,454 from Tamil Nadu, 25,018 from Delhi, 22,700 from Uttar Pradesh, 17,927 from West Bengal and 16,193 from Punjab. 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.