New Delhi, Mar 18 (IANS): In the last 24 hours, India reported 2,528 new Covid-19 cases and 149 deaths, the Union Health Ministry announced on Friday.

The new fatalities increased the nationwide death toll to 5,16,281.

Following a continuous downward trend, India's active caseload has further declined to 29,181, constituting 0.07 per cent of the country's total positive cases.

A total of 3,997 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, which increased the cumulative tally to 4,24,58,543. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.73 per cent.

Also in the same period, a total of 6,33,867 tests were conducted across the country, taking the total to over 78.18 crore.

While the weekly positivity Rate stood at 0.40 per cent, the daily positivity rate was reported to be 0.40 per cent.

As of Friday morning, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 180.97 crore, which has been achieved through 2,12,97,331 sessions.