India logged 38,949 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, health ministry data showed on Friday, pushing the nationwide tally above 31 million. 

The country's COVID death toll now stands at 412,531, the data showed.

India is likely to be hit by a third wave at the end of August which might not be as intense as the second one, expert warned. 

"There would be a nationwide third wave but that does not mean that it would be as high or as intense as the second wave," Dr Samiran Panda, Head of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research, told broadcaster NDTV on Thursday.