Pune’s Covid R-naught stays below 1, cases drop

Pune district’s R-naught (R0) has come down below 1 which indicates the spread of infection from one Covid positive person has come to less than one person

Pune: Post Ganeshotsav, the number of Covid-19 cases has slightly dropped further and the count of hospitalised patients in Pune has also reduced. Home isolations have also come down after the 11-day festival. The district’s R-naught (R0) has come down below 1 which indicates the spread of infection from one Covid positive person has come to less than one person.

A health worker gives Covid vaccine jab to a beneficiary at a vaccination centre in Pune. Pune district’s R-naught (R0) has come down below 1 which indicates the spread of infection from one Covid positive person has come to less than one person. (HT)

After 14 days of the festival, which is the incubation period for the virus, the number of new cases continues to drop. From September 9 to September 20, 2021, the week of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, the district reported 9,223 new Covid-cases of the 278,108 tests conducted, taking the positivity rate to 3.31%. Also, 85 deaths were reported in the district by the district health department

Between September 21 and September 30, the district reported 6,548 new Covid cases from the 232,081 tests conducted which took the positivity rate to 2.82%. Also, 71 deaths were included in the period.

R-naught is an epidemiological indicator which shows the spread of the infection from one infected person to n number of people. As per the district health office, on September 5, both Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations reported that the R naught figure is 1 and 1.09 respectively while at rural Pune it was 0.96. As of September 29, this respective number was 0.96, 0.94 and 0.98.

With lesser spread of infection, the number of active cases has dropped and hospital and home isolation cases have come down to 40-60%. Last week, Deenanath Mangeshkar reported only 48 active Covid hospitalised cases, Bharati Hospital 12 and Noble Hospital 33.

Dr HK Sale, executive director at Noble hospital, said, “Most of our serious patients hail from exterior limits of Pune city and have not taken the vaccine. The burden on hospital infrastructure due to Covid has come down and the hospital has now opened up to non-Covid OPDs and surgeries. We expect further drop in Covid cases” As of September 30, the district has 6,094 active Covid cases of which 2,450 were in hospital isolation and 3,644 home isolation.