The death toll has climbed to 5,26,730 with 41 deaths including 15 mortalities reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.31 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.50 per cent, the ministry said.
An increase of 577 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 6.14 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 4.64 per cent, according to the ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,34,99,659, while the case fatality rate was 1.19 per cent.
According to the ministry,206.56 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive.
The 26 new fatalities include four from Karnataka, three from Gujarat, two each from Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab and West Bengal and one each from ChhattisgarhHaryana, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
(With agency inputs)