COVID-19: India reports record 4,329 fatalities in the last 24 hours

New Delhi, May 18: India on Tuesday witnessed a steep decline for the second time in the number of fresh Covid-19 cases with 2,63,533 infections, pushing the country's cumulative caseload to 2,52,28,996. This is the second time, India has recorded the lowest numbers in 28 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The country recorded 4,329 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 2,78,719, according to the latest figures collated by Union Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, 2,15,96,512 have returned home after treatment.

The active cases further reduced to 33,53,765 comprising 13.29 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 85.60 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,15,96,512, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.10 per cent, the data stated.

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 crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4.

According to the ICMR, 31,82,92,881 samples have been tested up to May 17 with 18,69,223 samples being tested on Monday.