New Delhi, Aug 4: Jammu & Kashmir is among eight states that have shown a rise in the R-factor, the government said today, calling it a “significant problem”.
The states where the R-factor is more than one are Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala.
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.
The ‘R’ factor – a statistic used worldwide to track and control the spread of the virus – is a measure of how many people are being infected by one infected person.
An ‘R’ of 2.0 indicates that one person with COVID-19 will, on average, infect two others. Each of those two will infect two more (spreading the disease to an average of four people).
As many as 44 districts have reported a high case positivity and the Delta-driven second wave is still not over, warned VK Paul, who heads the government’s Covid task force. Eighteen districts showed an increasing trend in cases in the last four weeks, according to the government.
“Delta variant is a dominant problem. The pandemic is still raging and the second wave is persisting in our own country,” Dr Paul said, expressing concern about the R-factor or the reproductive rate of a virus, which indicates how fast it is spreading.
“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,” said Dr Paul.
He said the number of districts with high positivity had decreased from the previous week but per state, the number of districts with high positivity had decreased from the previous week. Now new states are showing districts with high positivity, he said.
“Whenever R number is above one, it means that the case trajectory is increasing and it needs to be controlled,” explained Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry.
