India has recorded a single-day rise of 774 COVID-19 cases while the number of active cases stands at 4,187, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.

Two deaths -- one each from Tamil Nadu and Gujarat -- were reported in a span of 24 hours, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.?The number of daily cases was in double digits till December 5 but it began to rise again amid cold weather conditions and after the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant, JN.1

After December 5, the highest single-day rise of 841 cases was reported on December 31, 2023, which was 0.2 per cent of the peak cases reported in May 2021, official sources said. Of the 4,187 active cases, the majority (over 92 per cent) are recovering under home isolation.

An official source said, "The currently available data suggests that the JN.1 variant is neither leading to an exponential rise in the new cases nor a surge in the hospitalisation and mortality."?India has witnessed three waves of COVID-19 in the past with the peak incidence of daily cases and deaths being reported during the Delta wave during April-June 2021. At its peak, 4,14,188 cases and 3,915 deaths were reported on May 7, 2021.

Since the pandemic began in early 2020, more than 4.5 crore people have been infected and over 5.3 lakh have died 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-19 vaccines have been administered so far in the country.