With the daily new Covid-19 infections in India receding slowly, researchers have found that the R-value or the reproductive number for Covid-19 in the country has dropped below 1 in September. The value denotes how many people an infected person impacts on average and is an indicator of how efficiently a virus spreads.
The R-value, which was 1.17 in August end, has reduced to 0.92 in mid-September indicating the slowing down of the transmission of the disease, news agency PTI reported citing researchers from the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai.
However, the data also showed that the R-value remained above 1 in some cities namely, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru while in Delhi and in Pune it remained below 1. Also, in Kerala and Maharashtra, two of the worst affected states in the country, the R-value was below 1.
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“The good news is that India's R has continued to be less than 1, as is that of Kerala and Maharashtra, the two states having the highest number of active cases,” PTI quoted Sitabhra Sinha of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences as saying. The value was recorded to be 1.17 at the end of August, declined further to 1.11 between September 4 and 7 and fell below 1 since then.
{{/usCountry}}“The good news is that India's R has continued to be less than 1, as is that of Kerala and Maharashtra, the two states having the highest number of active cases,” PTI quoted Sitabhra Sinha of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences as saying. The value was recorded to be 1.17 at the end of August, declined further to 1.11 between September 4 and 7 and fell below 1 since then.
{{/usCountry}}In the four cities, the R-value was found to be 1.09 in Mumbai, 1.11 in Chennai, 1.04 in Kolkata and 1.06 in Bengaluru. The R-value witnessed a declining phase after the devastating second wave of infections in India. It was recorded at 1.37 between March 9 and April 21 in the country, during the peak of the second wave. According to the latest update, the R-value was found to be 0.92 between September 14 and 19.
On Tuesday, 26,115 new Covid-19 cases and 252 related deaths were reported in the country. The death toll currently stands at 445,385 and the active caseload was recorded at 309,575, according to data from the Union ministry of health and family welfare.