NEW DELHI: India saw a single-day rise of 105 COVID-19 cases, while the number of active cases of the infection was recorded at 875, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday.

A new death due to the viral disease was reported from Punjab in a span of 24 hours, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.

The number of daily COVID cases was in double digits till December 5, 2023, but it began to rise after the emergence of a new variant of the virus and cold weather conditions.

After December 5, a maximum of 841 cases were reported on December 31, 2023, which was 0.2 per cent of the peak number of cases reported in May 2021, official sources said.

India has witnessed three COVID waves in the past, with the peak incidence of daily cases and deaths being reported during the Delta wave in April-June 2021.

At its peak, 4,14,188 new Covid cases and 3,915 deaths due to the infection were reported on May 7, 2021.

Since the pandemic broke out in early 2020, more than 4.5 crore people in India have been infected with the virus and over 5.3 lakh deaths have been recorded due to it.