New Delhi, February 26: With 11,499 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,29,05,844, while the active cases further declined to 1,21,881, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday. The death toll climbed to 5,13,481 with 255 daily fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

With this, the country recorded its daily COVID-19 cases under one lakh for the 20th consecutive day. The active cases comprise 0.28 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.52 per cent, the health ministry said.

A reduction of 12,354 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.01 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was 1.36 per cent, according to the health ministry. The number of recoveries surged to 4,22,70,482, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent. Pandemic Continues to Weaken; Mumbai Sees 128 COVID-19 Cases, No Death, 200 Recoveries.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive exceeded 177.13 crore. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh mark on August 7 last year, 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.

The 255 new fatalities include 177 from Kerala and 15 from Karnataka.

A total of 5,13,481 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,43,687 from Maharashtra, 64,980 from Kerala, 39,900 from Karnataka, 38,000 from Tamil Nadu, 26,117 from Delhi, 23,447 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,169 from West Bengal.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities. "Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of the figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

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