New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS): India on Monday logged 16,432 fresh Covid-19 infections which is 500 less than what it recorded in the past six months and 8,000 less than the number of recoveries in the past 24 hours.

This comes amid Centres's statement that a total of six samples of 6 UK returnees have been found positive with the new UK variant genome -- a rising concern, just when things had started to appear to be recovering.

With the latest new cases the total number of cases in the country reached 1,02,24,303, along with 252 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 1,48,153, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

On June 23, India recorded 15,968 new cases and on June 24 it was 16,922.

In the last 24 hours, 24,900 people have recovered, taking the total number of the recovered people to 98,07,569. There are 2,68,581 active cases. The recovery rate stands at 95.83 percent while the fatality rate is 1.45 a percent.

A total of 16,98,01,749 samples have been tested for Covid-19 till now. Of these, 9,83,695 samples were tested on Monday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state to date.

Over 70 percent of the daily new cases are being reported by 10 states and union territory -- Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Gujarat (in random order).

Over 75 per cent of the deaths are being reported from Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.

A new strain of the Covid-19 virus has appeared in the UK. The mutant is said to be 70 percent more aggressive, according to reports. Flights and other forms of transport to and from the UK are being shut down.