NEW DELHI: Two new deaths — one each from Karnataka and Kerala– have been reported in a span of 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 they again began to increase after emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.
A single day rise 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.
Of the total active cases, a large majority of these (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 new cases nor a surge in hospitalisation and mortality,” the sources stated.
India has witnessed three waves of COVID-19 in the past with the peak incidence of daily new cases and deaths being reported in the Delta wave during April-June 2021.
Since the pandemic began in early 2020, more than 4.5 crore people have got infected and over 5.3 lakh people have died across the country due to the infection.
