India logs 14,623 new Covid-19 cases, 197 deaths

India logged 14,623 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 3,41,08,996, while the active cases declined to 1,78,098, the lowest in 229 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 4,52,651 with 197 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

Meanwhile, Kerala continues to account for more than half of the nation's daily Covid-19 cases with 7,643 new cases and 77 deaths.

In the last 24 hours, 19,446 people recovered from the virus, taking the total recoveries to 3,34,78,247.

Till date, India has administered 99.12 crore vaccine doses under its vaccination drive.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 26 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 115 consecutive days now. The active cases comprise 0.52 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.15 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A decrease of 5,020 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

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.

A total of 4,52,651 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,39,865 from Maharashtra, 37,967 from Karnataka, 35,928 from Tamil Nadu, 27,002 from Kerala, 25,090 from Delhi, 22,898 from Uttar Pradesh and 18,998 from West Bengal.

The 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.

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