India recorded a single-day rise of 38,628 new coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to 3,18,95,385, while the death toll climbed to 4,27,371 with 617 fresh fatalities, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.

The active cases in the country have declined to 4,12,153 and comprise 1.29 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.37 per cent, the ministry data updated at 8 am showed.
A decrease of 2,006 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, it said.

The ministry also said that 17,50,081 tests were conducted on Friday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 to 47,83,16,964. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.21 per cent. It has been less than 3 per cent for the last 12 days.

The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.39 per cent, according to the health ministry. Meanwhile, the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,10,55,861, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated. Cumulative vaccine doses administered so far has reached 50.10 crore under the nationwide vaccination drive.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh mark on August 7 last, 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, 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 2 crore on May 4 and 3 crore on June 23 this year.

According to the ministry data, the 617 latest fatalities include 187 each from Maharashtra and Kerala. A total of 4,27,371 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,33,717 from Maharashtra, 36,741 from Karnataka, 34,260 from Tamil Nadu, 25,065 from Delhi, 22,771 from Uttar Pradesh, 18,202 from West Bengal and 17,515 from Kerala.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent 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.