18,870 new Covid-19 cases reported in the country

New Delhi: The daily rise in coronavirus infections remained below 20,000 for the second consecutive day with 18,870 fresh cases recorded in a single day, while the active cases declined to 2,82,520, the lowest in 194 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

With the fresh cases, India's tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,37,16,451.

The death toll climbed to 4,47,751 with 378 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The active cases comprise 0.84 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was



recorded at 97.83 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A decrease of 9,686 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.