VK Paul, who heads the government’s Covid task force, said as many as 44 districts have reported a high case positivity.
The government on Tuesday, calling the rise R-Factor in eight states as “significant problem”, said the pandemic is “still raging” in the country.
VK Paul, who heads the government’s Covid task force, said as many as 44 districts have reported a high case positivity and the Delta-driven second wave is still not over. According to the government, eighteen districts showed an increasing trend in cases in the last four weeks.
Expressing concern about the R-factor or the reproductive rate of a virus, which indicates how fast it is spreading, Dr Paul said: “Delta variant is a dominant problem. The pandemic is still raging and the second wave is persisting in our own country.”
“Please remember that R number should be 0.6 or below. If it has gone over 1, it shows it is a significant problem and the virus wants to spread,” he added.
The number of districts with high positivity had decreased from the previous week but, Dr Paul said, new states are showing districts with high positivity.
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala are the states where the R-factor is more than one.
Only Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra show a declining trend and states like Bengal, Nagaland, Haryana, Goa, Delhi and Jharkhand the R-factor is at 1.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry, explained: “Whenever R number is above one, it means that the case trajectory is increasing and it needs to be controlled.”
The US, Canada, Australia and India have an R number of 1.2 on average, he said, adding that this means one infected person is infecting more than one.
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