Covid-19: India records 40,135 new cases, 51.65 of them from Kerala

India on Monday recorded 40,134 fresh COVID-19 cases - 4 per cent lower than yesterday - and 422 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Ministry's latest database. So far, 4.24 lakh people have died of Covid in the country while the total caseload stands at 3.16 crore.

The top five states which have registered maximum cases are Kerala with 20,728 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 6,479 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 2,287 cases, Tamil Nadu with 1,990 cases and Karnataka with 1,875 cases. These five states are responsible for 83.12% of the new virus cases, with Kerala alone responsible for 51.65 per cent of the new cases.

Maximum daily deaths were reported in Maharashtra (157), followed by Odisha with 64 deaths.

Meanwhile, researchers have said that India may see another rise in Covid-19 cases as soon as August with the third wave peaking with less than 100,000 infections a day in the best-case scenario or nearly 150,000 in the worst scenario.

Bloomberg reported citing researchers led by Mathukumalli Vidyasagar and Manindra Agrawal at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Hyderabad and Kanpur respectively that the surge in Covid-19 cases will push the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which may peak in October. Vidyasagar told Bloomberg in an email that states with high Covid-19 cases, such as Kerala and Maharashtra, could "skew the picture."

On the other hand, AIIMS Chief Dr Randeep Guleria on Saturday told NDTV that India's 'R-Value' is inching up, and it's a cause of concern.

He further stressed the need for aggressive containment strategies in the parts of the country that are witnessing a surge in fresh Covid infections. His remarks come amid concern over a third wave.

"Starting from .96, and going all the way up to 1, the rise in R-Value is a cause of concern. Simply put, this means that the chances of infection spreading from a person, who has Covid, to others have gone up. The areas which are witnessing this surge should bring in restrictions and employ a "test, track, and treat" strategy to break the chain of transmission," Dr Guleria explained.

The R-Factor is an indicator of the effective reproductive number of a virus.

Meanwhile, India's recovery rate now stands at 97.35 per cent. A total of 36,946 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, which brings the total recoveries to 3,08,57,467 across the country.

According to the Health Ministry data, there are a total of 4,13,718 active Covid-`19 cases in the country. In the last 24 hours, active cases increased by 2,766.

In the last 24 hours, 17,06,598 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered. So far, 47,22,23,639 doses of vaccine have been administered.