India recorded 609 new Covid cases, taking the number of active infections to 3,368. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's data released at 8 AM on Friday three deaths were also reported over the previous 24 hours. As per news agency PTI, two of these deaths were reported from Kerala, and one was recorded in Karnataka.
The number of active cases dropped to double digits by December 5, 2023. However, the cases surged after the emergence of a new variant, JN.1, and the onset of the winter. As per official sources, it was only on December 31, 2023, that a maximum of 841 new cases were reported in a day, which was only 0.2% of the peak cases reported in May 2021, stated PTI. The majority, around 92%, of the total active cases are recovering under home isolation.
As per the current data available, the JN.1 variant is neither leading to an exponential rise in fresh COVID cases nor causing a surge in mortality and hospitalization.
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India has witnessed three massive waves of Covid-19 infections since its outbreak. The peak incidence of new cases and deaths were reported during the Delta wave in April-June 2021.
According to PTI, May 7, 2021, was the peak of the deadly pandemic, a day when 4,14,188 fresh cases and 3,915 deaths were reported.
More than 4.5 crore people have been infected by the virus so far, and 5.3 lakh people have died in India since the pandemic began in early 2020. According to the health ministry's website, India has a national recovery rate of 98.81% and the total number of Indians who have recuperated from this disease stands at over 4.4 crore.
A total of 220.67 crore Covid vaccine doses have also been administered so far in the country, as per the health ministry's data.
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