198 fresh Covid cases in India

New Delhi: India has recorded a single-day rise of 198 fresh COVID-19 infections while the number of active cases has come down to 1,764, the Union health ministry said on Thursday. One death was reported from Punjab in a span of 24 hours, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The number of daily cases had dropped to double digits till December 5 but it began to rise again after the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant and amid cold weather conditions.

After December 5, the highest single-day rise of 841 new cases was reported on December 31, 2023, which is 0.2 per cent of the peak cases reported in May 2021, official sources said.

Of the 1,764 active cases, a large majority (around 92 per cent) are recovering under home isolation.

"The currently available data suggests that the JN.1 variant is neither leading to an exponential rise in the new cases nor a surge in the hospitalisation and mortality," an official source said.

India has witnessed three waves of COVID-19 in the past with the peak incidence of daily cases and deaths being reported during the Delta wave during April-June 2021.

At its peak, 4,14,188 new cases and 3,915 deaths were reported on May 7, 2021.

Since the pandemic began in early 2020, more than 4.5 crore people have been infected and over 5.3 lakh have died across the country.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease stands at over 4.4 crore with a national recovery rate of 98.81 per cent, according to the ministry's website.

According to the website, 220.67 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered so far in the country.