India’s COVID-19 “R Count” Falls Below Mark Of One For The First Time Since 16 February: Report

In a positive development, for the first time since 16 February, the effective reproduction number (R) for COVID-19 spread in the country is said to have dropped below the mark of one, reports Economic Times.

The metric serves as a key measure of how fast COVID-19 is infecting people. As per an expert group at the University of Michigan, India’s R count as on 15 May stood at 0.99 mark.

This is significantly lower than the R count of 1.61 as on 1 April. Even on bygone 6 May, the R count for India stood at 1.18.

It should be noted that the R count has come below the mark of one in nine States and Union Territories (UTs) with high burden. These include Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Telangana.

Meanwhile, nine other States continue to report an R count of over one. These include Assam, Uttarkhand, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka.

As per Bhramar Mukherjee who is the lead researcher of the expert group from the University of Michigan, India is expected to see “distinct improvement around June” as per the present data assessments and expected policy parameters.