New Delhi, Jan 24: India recorded 160 fresh cases of Covid, with the number of active cases standing at 1,886, according to the Health Ministry’s update on Wednesday at 8 am. In the same 24-hour period, two new deaths were reported, one each from Karnataka and Kerala.

The daily cases had previously dropped to double digits until December 5, 2023. However, they started increasing again after the emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions. On December 31, 2023, a single-day rise of 841 new cases was reported, amounting to 0.2 per cent of the peak cases reported in May 2021, as per official sources.

Of the total active cases, approximately 92 per cent are recovering under home isolation. Current data suggests that the JN.1 variant is not leading to an exponential rise in new cases or a surge in hospitalization and mortality, according to official sources.

India has experienced three waves of COVID-19 in the past, with the peak incidence of daily new cases and deaths occurring during the Delta wave in April-June 2021. At its peak on May 7, 2021, 4,14,188 new cases and 3,915 deaths were reported.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, over 4.5 crore people have been infected, and over 5.3 lakh people have died across the country due to the infection. The number of people who have recovered from the disease is over 4.4 crore, with a national recovery rate of 98.81 per cent, according to the ministry’s website. The country has administered 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccines so far.