India's daily Covid-19 tally rose by 24 per cent on Wednesday as the nation logged 16,906 fresh infections, taking the overall figure to 4,36,69,850, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
On Tuesday, the country recorded 13,615 infections.
The active Covid cases have increased to 1,32,457. The active cases comprise 0.30 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.49 per cent, the ministry said.
An increase of 1,414 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 3.68 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 4.26 per cent, according to the ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,30,11,874, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent.
According to the ministry, 199.12 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid-19 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.
The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year.
The 45 new fatalities include 17 from Kerala, 13 from Maharashtra, five from West Bengal, two from Gujarat and one each from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Odisha, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
A total of 5,25,519 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,47,991 from Maharashtra, 70,170 from Kerala, 40,125 from Karnataka, 38,028 from Tamil Nadu, 26,285 from Delhi, 23,548 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,251 from West Bengal.
The 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 figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.