A total of 16,504 tested positive for coronavirus infection in a day. The death toll increased to 1,49,649 with 214 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed  

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 99,46,867 pushing the national recovery rate to 96.19 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.

The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 3 lakh for the 14th consecutive day.

There are 2,43,953 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprise 2.36 per cent of the total caseload, 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.

According to the ICMR, 17,56,35,761 samples have been tested up to January 3 with 7,35,978 samples being tested on Sunday.