India's active COVID-19 caseload dips with 37,154 fresh cases,724 deaths reported in last 24 hours

New Delhi: Amid concerns of new COVID-19 variants in India, the country on Monday recorded 37,154 new single-day cases and 724 deaths, said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Monday, adding that the total recovery from the virus also crossed the three crore-mark.

This is the 34th consecutive day when India reported less than one lakh new coronavirus cases.

Top five states which have registered maximum cases are Kerala with 12,220 fresh cases, followed by Maharashtra with 8,535 cases, Tamil Nadu with 2,775 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 2,665 cases and Odisha with 2,282 cases.

Maharashtra reported the highest number of deaths related to the virus in the last 24 hours with 350 fatalities, followed by Kerala with 97 fatalities. Meanwhile, more than 50 cases of the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 have so far been reported in India, according to government data.

Meanwhile, an analysis by researchers at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai had revealed that the R-factor, which indicates the speed at which the infection is spreading in the country, has risen recently leading to a sluggish pace in the decline of active cases while Kerala and northeast states have emerged as regions of concern.

According to sources, R-factor has increased slightly to 0.88 in June-end after being at its lowest-ever value of 0.78 from mid-May till late last month.

This comes amid the unlocking process by many states trying to restore a semblance of normalcy as the deadly second wave, which infected lakhs and killed thousands during its peak in April-May, shows signs of ebbing..

As per the health ministry's latest database, the active cases have now come down below 5 lakh. The country has 4,50,899 active cases presently and has witnessed a total of 4,08,764 deaths so far.

According to the Union Health Ministry, a total of 39,649 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the total discharge to 3,00,14,713 till date.

The Ministry said that a total of 37,73,52,501 people have been vaccinated so far in the country, including 12,35,287 who were administered vaccines in the last 24 hours.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 43,23,17,813 samples have been tested up to July 11 for Covid-19. Of these 14,32,343 samples were tested on Sunday.