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NEW DELHI — India saw a single day rise of 702 cases of COVID-19, with the number of active cases of the infection rising to 4,097, the health ministry said on Thursday.
Six new fatalities -- two from Maharashtra and one each from Karanataka, Kerala, West Bengal, and Delhi -- were reported in a span of 24 hours, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.
The country had recorded 752 new cases on December 22.
The number of daily cases had dropped to double-digits by December 5, but the cases have again gone up after emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.
The daily numbers were in lakhs at the peak of the pandemic, which began in early 2020 and has seen 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 recuperated from the infection 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.
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday said he has reiterated directions for carrying out genome sequencing of positive cases so that cases of JN.1 variant can be confirmed.
Talking to PTI Video, he said the government has ramped up Covid testing, with 636 tests conducted on Wednesday.
Bharadwaj had on Wednesday confirmed Delhi's first case of JN. 1 variant.
"I have reiterated the directions for genome sequencing of all the positive cases, so that the number of cases of new variants can be confirmed. Yesterday, three variants were confirmed, of which two were of the old Omicron variant and the new one is JN.1 variant. The good thing is that the patient diagnosed with the new variant, who was hospitalised, has been discharged," he told PTI Video.
He said the patient was a 52-year-old woman who got admitted to the hospital since she got a little worried.
"She did not have any severe issues," he added. The minister said that four patients are currently in hospital. He also urged people who have been unwell for a long time to avoid crowded places.
Bharadwaj said directions have been issued to run awareness campaigns on bus stops and other areas.