India Logs 188 New Covid Cases

India has recorded 188 new cases of Covid, while the number of active cases of the infection stood at 1,473, the health ministry said on Sunday.

No deaths have been reported in a span of 24 hours, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 a.m.

The number of daily cases had dropped to double-digits till Dec. 5, 2023 but cases had begun to increase after emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.

After Dec. 5, 2023 a maximum of 841 new cases were reported on Dec. 31, 2023 which was 0.2% of the peak cases reported in May 2021, official sources said.

"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 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.

Sinc the pandemic began in early 2020, more than 4.5 crore people have got infected and over 5.3 lakh have died due to the virus.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease stands at over 4.4 crore with a national recovery rate of 98.81%, according to the ministry's website.

According to the website, 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccines have so far been administered in the country.