COVID-19: Active cases lowest in 140 days

India saw a single-day rise of 38,353 coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,20,36,511, while the active cases have declined to  3,86,351, the lowest in 140 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,29,179 with 497 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The active cases comprise 1.21 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands 97.45 per cent, the ministry said.

A decrease of 2,157 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, 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 crores on May 4 and three crores on June 23.