187 fresh Covid cases in India; active infections dip to 1,674

New Delhi: India saw a single-day rise of 187 coronavirus cases, while the number of active infections was recorded at 1,674, the health ministry said on Friday.

One new death from Maharashtra has 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, but cases began to increase after emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.

After December 5, the highest single-day rise of 841 new cases was 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 the new cases nor a surge in the hospitalisation and mortality," an official source 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 from April to June 2021.

At its peak, 414,188 new cases and 3,915 deaths were reported on May 7, 2021.

Since the pandemic began in early 2020, there have been more than 4.5 crore people getting infected and over 5.3 lakh deaths in about four years since then across the country.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease stands at more than 4.4 crore with a national recovery rate of 98.81 per cent, 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.