Kerala accounted for close to 70% of India’s single-day count of 47,092 fresh Covid-19 infections on Thursday, a week after huge crowds in the state were seen celebrating the state’s biggest festival of Onam.

This was the country’s highest daily count of fresh coronavirus cases in the last two months. The number of deaths for the 24-hour period were put at 509 of which one-third were reported from Kerala.

"With cases rising in Kerala, adequate steps should be taken to contain the inter-state spread of COVID-19," Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a statement after speaking to the health ministers in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The minister asked both to increase vaccination in the districts close to Kerala.

The central government has warned that like Kerala, the rest of India could also see a rise in infections around the festival season starting this month and ending in early November which includes Dushehra and Diwali.

India has so far administered 662 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, with at least 54% of the country’s 944 million adults having received at least one dose while 16% have got both doses.

In recent days as supplies have improved. Surveys also show that more than two-thirds of Indians have developed antibodies to fight Covid-19 through natural infection.

Experts are of the view that another surge in coronavirus in the country will be less deadly than the second wave in April and May in which the healthcare system was overwhelmed and hospitals ran out of oxygen.

Some parents are also worried about the reopening of schools in Delhi and states like Gujarat.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Thursday that India would resume exports of COVID-19 vaccines only after its own interests are taken care of.

"Every country works with an aim of keeping its people, economy and social system safe," he said at a press conference.

"Even the public health response to COVID is governed by those goals. So we will also try to achieve those goals and see when would be the right time to export vaccines," he added.