Covid-19 Update: India’s R Value Falls To 0.92, Drops Below 1 In Kerala And Maharashtra Too

The R values of Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru are still over 1, according to researchers

File photo of a crowd of students in Kerala's Kozhikode | Photo: Getty

New Delhi: India’s reproduction value for Covid-19 dropped to 0.92 by mid-September after remaining over 1 for a long time in August, a PTI report said, quoting researchers. 

R value reflects the average number of people a single Covid positive person could infect, and measures how fast the pandemic is spreading.

The report, however, said the R values of Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru, are still over 1. Delhi and Pune have recorded R below 1. 

What has come as a relief is the below-1 R recoded by Maharashtra and Kerala, the two states with the highest number of active cases. 

India’s R-value, which was 1.17 by the end of August, declined to 1.11 by the end of September first week and has since remained under 1. 

"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, Chennai, as saying.

Sinha is leading a team of researchers who have been calculating the R-value since the beginning of the pandemic. 

According to the data shared by them, the R-value of Mumbai is 1.09, Chennai is 1.11, Kolkata is 1.04, and Bengaluru is 1.06 at present. 

As far as overall Covid cases are concerned, India has seen a decline in the numbers compared to the last week. As many as 26,115 new Covid cases were recoded in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Ministry of Health Affairs.

At 0.92 per cent of the total tally, active cases are currently lowest since March 2020.

India has a total of 3,09,575 active cases at present — lowest in 184 days.