India recorded 8,865 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest such tally in over nine months, and 197 fatalities in the last 24 hours, data from the Union Ministry of Health confirmed on Tuesday. India’s total infection tally now stands at 3,44,56,401. 

Tuesday’s tally of daily new cases was the lowest in 287 days. Active cases have declined by 3,303 to 1,30,793. They comprise 0.38% of the total caseload, the lowest such fraction since March, 2020.  

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A total of 11,971 patients recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,38,61,756. The national recovery rate stands at 98.27%, the highest level since March, 2020.  

The 197 fatalities in the last 24 hours takes the country’s death toll to 4,63,852. The national mortality rate stands at 1.35%. 

Data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) confirmed a total of 62,57,74,159 swab samples have been tested for COVID-19 across the country so far. 11,07,617 samples were tested on Monday. 

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This means India’s daily positivity rate, recorded at 0.80% on Tuesday, has stayed below 2% for the last 43 days. The weekly positivity rate (0.97%) has stayed below 2% for the last 53 days. 

The central government has administered a total of 1,12,97,84,045 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the national vaccination campaign. 59,75,469 doses were administered in the last 24 hours. 

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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.