India has recorded 609 new cases of Covid-19, while the number of active cases of the infection has declined to 3,368, the health ministry said on Friday.
Three deaths -- two in Kerala and one in Karnataka -- have 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 began to increase after the emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.
After December 5, 841 new cases were reported on December 31, 2023, which was 0.2 percent of the peak cases reported in May 2021, official sources said. Of the total active cases, a large majority (around 92 percent) are recovering under home isolation.
"The currently available data suggests that the JN.1 variant is neither leading to an exponential rise in new cases nor a surge in hospitalization and mortality," the official source stated. India has witnessed three waves of COVID-19 in the past with the peak incidence of daily new cases and deaths reported during the Delta wave in 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 since then across the country.
According to the ministry's website, the number of people who have recuperated from the disease stands at over 4.4 crore with a national recovery rate of 98.81 percent. According to the website, 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccines have so far been administered in the country.
