India recorded 14,313 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,39,85,920, while the active cases declined to 2,14,900, the lowest in 212 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.
The number of deaths climbed to 4,50,963 with 181 fresh deaths, according to the data updated at 8 am.
Among the 181 new deaths, 84 were from Kerala and 36 were from Maharashtra.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 18 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 107 consecutive days now.
The active cases have declined to 2,14,900 comprising 0.63 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national Covid recovery rate was recorded at 98.04 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.
The number of people recovered from the disease totalled 3,33,20,057, and the fatality rate was 1.33 per cent.
These latest numbers come at a time when restrictions have been eased in most states and Union territories. Experts, however, have warned people against lowering guard during the festive season, fearing that any complacency during this period could lead to a third wave.
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.