Covid 2nd wave not over yet, 'R number' high in 8 states: Centre

New Delhi: Underlining that the second wave of COVID-19 is not over yet, the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said that the Reproduction (R) number is high in eight states adding that case trajectory needs to be controlled there.

Addressing a press conference over the Covid-19 situation in the country, Joint Secretary of Union Health Ministry, Lav Agarwal said whenever R number is above one, it means that the case trajectory is increasing and it needs to be controlled.

These eight states include Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Karnataka, Puducherry, Kerala, he informed.

"US, Canada, Australia, and India have 1.2 R number, on average. This means one infected individual is infecting more than one person. R number is high in 8 states of India. Growth rate and active cases are also assessed using the Reproduction (R) Number. It is the average number of new infections generated by one infected individual during the entire infectious period," he said.

"Whenever R number is above one, it means that the case trajectory is increasing and it needs to be controlled," the official added.

Agarwal further said that a high number of COVID cases are being reported across the world and the pandemic is far from over.

"As far as India is concerned, the second wave is still not over," said Agarwal.

Speaking about the case positivity rate in the country, he said, "There are 44 districts where the case positivity rate is over 10 per cent. These districts are in Kerala, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland among others."

"There were 279 districts on June 1, where over 100 cases were reported but it has come down to 57 districts now, where over 100 cases are being reported in the country."

"The number of cases decreased by 222 districts. Case trajectory is seen in the limited area. There are 18 districts incl 10 districts of Kerala where an increasing trend in cases is seen. These 18 districts constitute 47.5 per cent cases," he added.

"There are few states where over 3 crore vaccination doses have been supplied. UP has been given 4.88 crore doses, Maharashtra has been given 4.5 crore doses and Gujarat has been given 3.4 crore doses," he added further.