India's daily new coronavirus cases remained below the 2-lakh mark for the first time after 40 days with 1,96,427 fresh infections, and 3,741 deaths being recorded in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Tuesday.
The country crossed the grim milestone of recording over 2 lakh cases in a day on April 15.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the country recorded 3,26,850 fresh recoveries in the 24-hour period, outnumbering new cases.
The cumulative caseload in India now stands at 2,69,48,874 including 25,86,782 active cases. The death toll mounted to 3,07,231, while the recovery tally reached 2,40,54,861.
Karnataka, which has recently overtaken Maharashtra in the number of active infections, has now 4,40,435 active infections, making the state worst-hit by the pandemic. Maharashtra follows with 3,27,580 active cases.
As per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 33,25,94,176 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to May 24. Of them, 20,58,112 samples were tested on Monday.
The Union Health Ministry informed that as many as 19,85,38,999 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered so far since the commencement of the vaccination drive on January 16.
On Monday, the MOHFW said that the daily coronavirus positivity rate has declined to 12.66 per cent while the national recovery rate has improved further to touch 88.69 per cent. Eight states including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh account for 71.62 per cent of India's total active infections, it had said.
On May 7, with 4,14,188 new COVID-19 cases being registered in the last 24 hours, India reported its highest single-day spike since the pandemic began last year.
India's daily spike of coronavirus cases remained below the 3 lakh mark, on May 17, for the first time after 26 days. Since then, the daily new cases in the country have been hovering below the 3-lakh mark for eight consecutive days.
On May 19, India recorded the highest single-day COVID-19 fatalities with 4,529 new deaths in the last 24 hours. (ANI)
