India reports 2,528 new Covid cases, 149 more deaths

New Delhi, March 18

With 2,528 new Covid cases being reported in a day, India’s infection tally now stands at 4,30,04,005, while the count of active cases fell below 30,000 after around 685 days, according to the Union Health Ministry on Friday.

The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 5,16,281 with 149 daily fatalities being recorded, data updated by the ministry at 8 am showed.

The count of active cases has declined to 29,181 which comprised 0.07 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid recovery rate had further improved to 98.73 per cent, the health ministry said.

A reduction of 1,618 cases had been recorded in the active Covid caseload of the country in a span of 24 hours, the data showed.

There had been a sustained fall in the weekly and daily positivity rates too, the ministry said.

Both were recorded at 0.4 per cent, it added.

The last 24 hours saw a total of 6,33,867 Covid tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 78.18 crore tests for the disease.

The number of people who had recuperated from the disease had surged to 4,24,58,543, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.2 per cent, the data showed.

The cumulative number of doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid vaccination drive has exceeded 180.97 crore.

The 149 new fatalities include 130 from Kerala.

A total of 5,16,281 Covid deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,43,762 from Maharashtra, 67,138 from Kerala, 40,028 from Karnataka, 38,025 from Tamil Nadu, 26,145 from Delhi, 23,492 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,192 from West Bengal.