New Delhi, January 18: India witnessed a single-day rise of 305 new cases of COVID-19, with the number of active cases declining to 2,439, according to the health ministry’s update on Thursday at 8 am. In the past 24 hours, three deaths were reported—one each from Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Gujarat.
The daily case count had reduced to double digits until December 5 but began to rise again with the emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions. After December 5, the maximum single-day rise was recorded on December 31, with 841 new cases reported, constituting 0.2% of the peak cases in May 2021.
Approximately 92% of the total active cases are currently recovering under home isolation. Officials state that the JN.1 sub-variant, which emerged, is not causing an exponential rise in new cases or a surge in hospitalization and mortality, according to currently available data.
India has experienced three waves of COVID-19, with the peak during the delta wave in April-June 2021, reporting 414,188 new cases and 3,915 deaths on May 7, 2021. Since the pandemic’s onset in early 2020, over 4.5 crore people have been infected, resulting in over 5.3 lakh deaths in about four years.
The recovery rate stands at 98.81%, with over 4.4 crore people having recuperated from the disease. The ministry’s website indicates that 220.67 crore doses of COVID vaccines have been administered in the country.
