India recorded 31,923 fresh Covid cases, which is 18 per cent higher than yesterday figures (26,964), taking the total count of COVID-19 cases to 3,35,63,421.
As many as 282 patients died and 31,990 recovered from the viral disease, taking the cumulative count of deaths and recoveries to 446,050 and 32,815,731 respectively. The active cases in the country stand at 301,640.
The active cases comprise for 0.90 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March last year, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.77 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the Union Health Ministry said.
India's recovery rate now stands at 97.77 per cent.
The top five states which have registered maximum cases are Kerala with 19,675 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 3,608 cases, Tamil Nadu with 1,682 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 1,365 cases and Mizoram with 1,294 cases.
Around 86.53 per cent of the new cases are reported from these five states, with Kerala alone responsible for 61.63 per cent of the new cases.
Maximum casualties were reported in Kerala with 142 fresh fatalities, followed by Maharashtra with 48 daily deaths.
The daily positivity rate - number of positive cases identified per 100 - stands at 2.09 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for last 23 days.
83.39 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under nationwide vaccination drive.
India has recorded over 4.45 lakh Covid-related deaths since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. Some states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi have already announced compensation for families who have lost members to Covid.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called for international travel to be made easier, through "mutual recognition of vaccine certificates", amid a row with the UK over fully-vaccinated Indians still having to quarantine. Even though Covishield is now an approved vaccine on the UK's revised guidelines for travel, because of "vaccination certification issues", Indians are still required to quarantine.