India recorded 29,164 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours - less than 30,000 in a day for the first time in over four months, government coronavirus data shows. With this, the country's total Covid case count since the January outbreak stands at 88,74,291, including 4,53,401 active cases and 82,90,371 recoveries. The cumulative deaths climbed to 1,30,519 after 449 new deaths.
Maharashtra has 85,363 active coronavirus cases, the highest in the country, followed by Kerala with 71,046 and Delhi with 40,128.
This is the tenth day when India reported less than 50,000 cases in a day. The last time daily new cases crossed the 50,000-threshold was on November 7.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 8,44,382 samples for COVID-19 were tested on November 16 while a total of 12,65,42,907 samples tested so far.
On Monday, the Union Health Ministry informed that the coronavirus recovery rate has improved to 93.27 per cent. India has continued the unbroken trend of the daily new recoveries outpacing the daily new additions for the 44th day, it had said.