India records 18,088 new COVID cases, 264 deaths in a day; recoveries inches closer to 1-crore mark

India recorded as many as 18,088 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country's COVID-19 caseload to 1,03,74,932, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

With 264 new fatalities, the death toll increased to 1,50,114, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 99,97,272, pushing the national recovery rate to 96.36 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.

The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 3 lakh for the 16th consecutive day. There are 2,27,546 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprises 2.19 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

According to the ICMR, 17,74,63,405 samples have been tested up to January 4 with 9,31,408 samples being tested on Monday.

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 coronavirus statewise tally: