India’s daily new COVID-19 cases fell below 19,000 for the sixth time this month, taking the country’s caseload to 10,431,639 while the recoveries have surged to 1.05 crore, according to data updated by the Union health ministry on Friday.A total of 18,222 new infections were reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 1,50,798 as 228 more people succumbed to the disease during the same period, the data updated at 8 am showed.The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,00,56,651, pushing the national recovery rate to 96.41 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stood at 1.45 per cent.The active COVID-19 caseload remained below three lakh for the 19th consecutive day.There are 2,24,190 active coronavirus infections in the country, which account for 2.15 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 18,02,53,315 samples have been tested for COVID-19 till January 8, including 9,16,951 on Thursday.
