India logs 269 new COVID-19 cases, active tally at 2,556

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India saw a single-day rise of 269 new COVID-19 cases, while the number of active cases of the infection has declined to 2,556, the health ministry said on Wednesday, reported news agency PTI.

Three deaths, two from Kerala and one from Maharashtra have been reported in the last 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 the emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions, reported PTI.

After December 5, a maximum of a 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, reported PTI.

Of the total active cases, around 92 per cent are recovering under home isolation.

"The currently available data suggests that the JN.1 sub-variant is neither leading to an exponential rise in the new COVID-19 cases nor a surge in the hospitalisation and mortality," the official source stated, reported PTI.

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 during April-June 2021.

At its peak, 414,188 new COVID-19 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 over 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.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 63 fresh cases of coronavirus and one more fatality linked to the respiratory illness, the health department said.

Mumbai recorded 23 of these cases, while the lone coronavirus-related death was reported from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district in central Maharashtra, the department said in a bulletin.

The case fatality rate in the state stood at 1.81 per cent.

The state has 250 patients infected with the new JN.1 sub-variant of Omicron, said the bulletin.

(With inputs from PTI)