India saw a single-day rise of 120 cases of COVID-19, while the number of active cases of the infection has declined to 817 cases, according to the Union Health Ministry's data on Thursday.

One new death from Delhi has been reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The number of daily cases had dropped to double-digits till December 5, but cases had begun to increase after emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions.

After December 5, a maximum of  a single day rise of 841 new cases were reported on December 31, 2023 which is 0.2 per cent of the peak cases reported in May 2021, official sources said.

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 cases and 3915 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, according to the ministry's website.

Besides, 220.67 crore doses of covid vaccines have so far been administered in the country.