India logged 18,346 new Coronavirus infections in last 24 hours, the lowest in 209 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,38,53,048, even as the active cases declined to 2,52,902, the lowest in 201 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

With 263 more fatalities, the death toll climbed to 4,49,260, the data showed.

The 263 new fatalities include 149 from Kerala and 26 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,49,260 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,39,233 from Maharashtra, 37,832 from Karnataka, 35,666 from Tamil Nadu, 25,526 from Kerala and 25,088 from Delhi, 22,894 from Uttar Pradesh, and 18,837 from West Bengal.

The daily rise in new Coronavirus infections have remained below 30,000 for 11 straight days.

Kerala, which recorded 8,850 Covid cases in the last 24 hours, is showing a decline in daily fresh cases after crossing the 30,000-mark in August.

In the eastern India, West Bengal recorded 601 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths, taking the overall caseload to 15,71,841, a total of 333 COVID-19 positive cases and nine deaths were recorded in Assam.

The national capital reported 34 new COVID-19 cases and Mumbai added 341 new infections and two deaths in the last 24 hours, the data said.

The active cases comprise 0.75 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.93 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A decrease of 11,556 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

As many as 11,41,642 tests were conducted on Monday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 57,53,94,042.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.61 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for the last 36 days.

The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.66 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 102 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,31, 50,886, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 91.54 crore.