India reports 2,528 new COVID-19 cases, 149 fatalities

PTI, Mar 18, 2022, 9:51 AM IST

With 2,528 new COVID-19 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 comprises 0.07 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.73 per cent, the health ministry said.

A reduction of 1,618 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload of the country in a span of 24 hours, the data showed.

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

Both were recorded at 0.40 per cent, it added.

The last 24 hours saw a total of 6,33,867 COVID-19 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 78.18 crore tests for the disease.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 4,24,58,543, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent, the data showed.

The cumulative number of doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 180.97 crore.

India’s COVID-19 infection tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.

The country crossed the grim milestones of two crore cases on May 4, 2021 and three crore on June 23.