New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS): India on Friday reported 36,571 new Covid cases and 540 deaths in the last 24 hours, while the active caseload has declined to the lowest in the past 150 days, said the Covid bulletin released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the States/UTs continue the trend as less than 50,000 daily caseloads are being reported for the past 54 consecutive days now.

India's recovery rate from Covid infection currently stands at 97.54 per cent, the highest since March 2020.

The active caseload also registered a decline of 524 in the past 24 hours, and cumulatively stands at 3,63,605, the lowest in the last 150 days. The active caseloads constitute 1.12 per cent of total cases, the lowest since March 2020, as per the bulletin released by the health ministry.

As per the health ministry data, total 36, 555 patients were discharged from the hospitals and health centers in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cured to 3,15,61,635 to the date in India.

The death toll due to Covid in the country stands at 4,33,589 currently.

The weekly positivity rate remained below 3 per cent for the last 56 days and currently stands at 1.93 per cent. The daily positivity rate continued to remain below 3 per cent for the last 25 continuous days and currently stands at 1.94 per cent.

With the administration of 54,71,282 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage has surpassed the cumulative figure of 57.22 crore (57,22,81,488) as per provisional reports. This has been achieved through 63,56,785 sessions.

The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of 18,86,271 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 50,26,99,702 cumulative tests.