With 22,431 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India’s total tally of Covid-19 cases rose to 33,894,312, while the active cases declined to 244,198, the lowest in 204 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The number of deaths climbed to 449,856 with 318 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 13 straight days.

The active cases comprise 0.72 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.95 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A decrease of 2,489 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.