India's COVID-19 reproductive number more than 1 in Kerala, 7 other states

A BMC health worker collects swab samples of a passenger for COVID-19 testing, at CSMT station in Mumbai.
A BMC health worker collects swab samples of a passenger for COVID-19 testing, at CSMT station in Mumbai. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said India's reproductive number that denotes the spread of COVID-19 is more than one in eight states, including Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Reproduction or reproduction number is a measure that highlights the number of people a coronavirus positive person infects, thereby reflecting the severity of its spread. A number of one or below one indicates a slowly spreading virus while any number above 1 indicates a rapid spread.

Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry, Luv Agrawal said that last week Kerala reported 40.95 per cent of total caseloads in India, followed by Maharashtra (19.43 per cent) and Karnataka (5.94 per cent).

An official said the pandemic is for from over, and the second wave, as far as India is concerned, is still not over. The daily new COVID-19 cases being reported across the world are still high as more than 4.7 lakh infections are being recorded everyday, the official added.

The government said 44 districts across 12 states and Union Territories reported more than 10 per cent weekly COVID-19 positivity rate in the week ending August 2.

It said that 18 districts from six states, including Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, reported an increasing trend in daily new Covid cases in last four weeks.

It added that in the last week, 49.85 per cent of the total coronavirus cases were reported from Kerala.

A total of 18 districts across the nation have showed the increasing tendency on Covid trajectory from last four weeks, he added.

It includes 10 districts from Kerala, 3 from Maharashtra, 2 from Manipur and one each from Arunachal, Meghalay and Mizoram.

Agrawal said that only these 18 districts contribute 47.5 per cent of daily Covid cases. The 10 districts of Kerala have reported around 40.6 per cent of Covid cases.

India's active caseload has significantly declined and stands at 4 lakh currently. Kerala has over 1.65 lakh of active cases. In total nine states have over 10,000 active covid cases as of now.

A total of 60 per cent Covid cases are being reported from Kerala and Maharashtra only, he said.

India continues to keep positive trends of recovery rate at 97.3 per cent.

Central team's report
Talking about Kerala, Aggarwal said that the team sent to Kerala has submitted its report. Covid cases are growing at a rate of 17 per cent in Malappuram district. The team has recommended strengthening testing and contact tracing in 10 districts of the state. The team has also recommended expanding the number of ICU beds in the state. Instead of 1:5 tracing, it should be 1:20, the team has recommended.

Talking about R values (reproduction values), Agrawal said, "We have observed increasing reproductive values in limited trajectory."

The government also said that the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in July is more than double of that in May.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS)

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