India has logged 211 fresh cases of Covid, while the number of active cases of the infection declined to 1,478 from 1,496, the health ministry said on Thursday.
One new death has been reported in 24 hours, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am. The number of daily cases had dropped to double-digits till December 5, 2023 but cases had begun to increase after emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.
After December 5, a maximum of 841 new cases were reported on December 31, 2023 which is 0.2 per cent of the peak cases reported in May 2021, official sources said. India has witnessed three waves of COVID-19 in the past with the peak incidence of daily new cases and deaths being reported during the Delta wave in April-June 2021.
At its peak, 414,188 new cases and 3,915 deaths were reported on May 7, 2021. Since the pandemic began in early 2020, there have been more than 4.5 crore people getting infected and over 5.3 lakh deaths in about four years since then across the country.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease stands at over 4.4 crore, according to the ministry's website.