India recorded 29,689 new COVID-19 cases and 415 deaths in the last 24 hours, data from the Union Ministry of Health confirmed on Tuesday. The country’s infection tally now stands at 3,14,40,951, with the death toll pushed to 4,21,382. 

Active cases in India have fallen by 13,089 and currently stand at 3,98,100. They comprise 1.31% of the total caseload. 42,363 patients recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,06,21,469. The recovery rate stands at 97.35%. 

India’s tally of daily infections on Tuesday was the lowest reported in nearly foru months and the first time it was under 30,000 in 132 days. The country also reported nearly 10,000 fewer cases than on Monday (39,361). 

The daily positivity rate is 1.73% and the weekly positivity rate is 2.33%. 

Meanwhile, the government administered 66,03,112 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the last 24 hours, with the total number of vaccinations now at 44,19,12,395. 

India’s mass vaccination drive started on January 16.

Data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday confirmed 17,20,110 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of tests conducted to 45,91,64,121 as of July 26.

India has been witnessing a gradual drop in cases after a ferocious second wave crippled the country’s health care infrastructure over the summer. At the peak of the second wave, the country reported over 4,00,000 cases and over 4,500 deaths everyday. 

India’s total caseload is the second highest in the world, behind only the United States‘ tally of 3,44,43,761. The US also has the world’s highest death toll, 6,10,891, with Brazil(5,49,924) and India second and third respectively.   

However, experts believe the true extent of India’s COVID crisis to be much worse than officially reported. A recent research estimated somewhere between 3.4 million to 4.7 million have died from the virus in India, 10 times the official count, making it the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak.