The reproduction rate, or R value, of Covid-19 in India has dropped from 1.17 reported around the end of August to 0.92 recorded in mid-Sep...
The reproduction rate, or R value, of Covid-19 in India has dropped from 1.17 reported around the end of August to 0.92 recorded in mid-September, PTI reported on Tuesday, citing researchers. This indicates that the rate of infection across the country has slowed down, according to experts.
However, the R values in major cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru was recorded at over 1.
The R value measures how many people are being infected by one Covid-positive person on an average. For instance, a value between 0.7 and 1.2 means that every 10 Covid-positive people will pass on the infection to seven to 12 others.
The number of infections keeps rising if the R value is more than 1. If the value declines, the infection will eventually stop spreading because there will not be enough new cases for the outbreak to continue.
A study at Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, showed that the R value in Mumbai was 1.09, in Chennai 1.11, in Kolkata 1.04 and in Bengaluru 1.06.
The R value in Maharashtra and Kerala, the two states with the highest number of active cases, was also found to be below 1. Tamil Nadu and Mizoram were the only states where the reproduction rate was above 1.
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