India’s daily Covid cases and active caseload continued to slide as 26,041 new infections and 276 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data updated on Monday.

The number of new cases reported is 8.1 per cent lower than that reported a day before on Sunday.

The active cases have seen a decline of total 3,856 cases in the last 24 hours, taking India’s active caseload to 2,99,620, the lowest in 191 days. The active cases in India are 0.89 per cent of the total cases, the data showed.

With 29,612 patients recovering in last 24 hours, those who have recuperated from the disease so far mounted to 3,29,31,972, pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 97.78 per cent, the ministry said.

The five states which registered the most number of cases on Monday are Kerala with 15,951 cases, Maharashtra with 3,206 cases, Tamil Nadu with 1,694 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 1,184 cases and Karnataka with 775 cases.

More than 87 per cent of the new cases were reported in these five states, with Kerala alone responsible for 61.25 per cent of them.

The country on Sunday had reported 28,336 fresh Covid cases and 260 deaths. However, the death toll logged a rise of 16 on Monday taking the total to 4,47,194, as per the data shared by the Union Health Ministry. The case fatality rate as of now stands at 1.33 per cent.

The 276 new fatalities include 165 from Kerala and 36 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,47,194 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,38,870 from Maharashtra, 37,726 From Karnataka, 35,490 from Tamil Nadu, 25,085 from Delhi, 24,603 from Kerala, 22,890 from Uttar Pradesh, and 18,736 from West Bengal.

Less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 92 consecutive days, the ministry said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.24 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for last 28 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.94 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 94 days, according to the ministry.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 86 crore.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 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.

India administered a total of 38,18,362 Covid-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of doses administered across the country under the nationwide vaccination drive to 86,01,59,011.

Meanwhile, a total of 11,65,006 samples were tested for Covid in the last 24 hours.