National Desk, 18th January: India recorded a single-day increase of 305 new COVID-19 cases, reducing the total number of active cases to 2,439, as per the health ministry’s data from Thursday (January 18).
In the last 24 hours, three deaths were reported, one each from Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Gujarat. Daily cases had declined to double-digits until December 5 but began rising again with the emergence of a new variant and colder weather.
A peak single-day increase of 841 new cases was reported on December 31, constituting 0.2 percent of the peak cases reported in May 2021. About 92 percent of the total active cases are recovering at home. Current data indicates that the JN.1 sub-variant is not causing a significant surge in new cases or hospitalizations and deaths.
India has witnessed three COVID-19 waves, with the highest daily new cases and deaths reported during the delta wave in April-June 2021. On May 7, 2021, at the peak of the wave, 414,188 new cases and 3,915 deaths were reported.
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