India records 15,981 Covid-19 cases, 166 fatalities in last 24 hours

India recorded 15,981 COVID-19 cases in a day taking the infection tally to 3,40,53,573 while 166 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 4,51,980, according to the Union Health Ministry's data on Saturday.

The number of active Covid cases has declined to 2,01,632 and comprises 0.60 per cent of the total infections. The national recovery rate was recorded at 98.07 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

In a day, the active COVID-19 caseload declined by 2,046. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,33,99,961, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent.

A total of 9,23,003 tests were conducted on Friday, taking the cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 58,98,35,258.

Over 97.23 crore Covid vaccine doses have been administered in the country till now under the nationwide vaccination drive.

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.