India’s Covid-19 reproductive number more than 1 in eight states — Govt.

New Delhi, Aug. 3 (PTI): 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.

An official said the pandemic is far 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.

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