New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS): India reported less than 20,000 Covid-19 cases for the third straight day, recording 18,870 new cases in the last 24 hours and taking the total caseload to 3,37,16,451, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

India had reported 18,795 new cases on Tuesday and 19,859 on Monday.

With 378 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, India's cumulative Covid related fatalities has risen to 4,47,751, till Wednesday morning. The fatality rate remained at 1.33 per cent for the last few weeks.

The decline in daily Covid cases was witnessed as Kerala, which has been reporting almost half of the total cases for the last few weeks, has improved marginally. According to the Union health Ministry's report, 11,196 new cases were registered in Kerala on Tuesday against 11,699 reported on Monday.

Maharashtra, which has the second highest daily Covid cases after Kerala, had registered 2,844 cases on Tuesday.

The country's active caseload further dropped to 2,82,520, according to the Union Health Ministry's data.

The active cases comprise 0.84 per cent of the total infections -- the lowest since March 2020 -- while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.81 per cent -- the highest since March 2020.

A total of 3,29,86,180 Covid infected patients recovered, out of which 28,178 were discharged in the last 24 hours.

The cumulative number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 87 crore (87,66,63,490), out of which 54,13,332 were administered in the last 24 hours, according to the ministry's report.

Only five states -- Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Mizoram -- are currently reporting more than 1,000 cases every day. In three states -- Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, and union territories -- Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and also Chandigarh -- the active case count has fallen below 100.