Coronavirus live updates: India sees 35,000 new Covid cases, Kerala tally up at 21.6k

India recorded 440 deaths from the virus on Tuesday, the daily toll remaining below 500 for the fifth day running. Kerala reported 127 deaths, Maharashtra 116, Odisha 68, and Karnataka and Tamil Nadu 32 each.

Infections also spiked in Mizoram, where 639 new cases were reported, the highest daily number in six days.

In Maharashtra, daily numbers stayed below the 5,000 mark for the third day running. The state reported 4,408 new infections on Tuesday. However, cases in Himachal Pradesh again touched 300.

As a result of low testing, the positivity rate in Kerala shot up to 15.48% on Tuesday, indicating that the pandemic may not be waning in the state any time soon.

Kerala cases surged again after the weekend effect of low testing wore off on Tuesday. The state recorded 21,613 fresh cases, the highest in last five days after logging just 12,294 on the previous day.

India reported 35,134 fresh cases on Tuesday, a day after daily numbers had dipped below 25,000 following low testing on Independence Day.

Daily cases of Covid-19 in India continued to decline although infections in Kerala surged past 20,000 again after three days of relatively low numbers.