<p>India’s Covid-19 numbers have begun to rise again for the past two days after dipping to a low of 36,000 plus with Kerala, Delhi and West Bengal emerging as the new trouble spots where the infection has spiralled fast.</p>.<p>Top central government officials on Thursday reviewed the Covid-19 situation with these three states, which had been advised to gear up the “testing, tracking and treatment’ strategy during the festival season besides giving a thrust to public awareness and enforcement of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.</p>.<p><strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/coronavirus-live-news-covid-19-latest-updates.html">Follow DH's coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic here</a></strong></p>.<p>In the last 24 hours, there were 49,881 new infections in the country whereas 43,893 cases were recorded on October 28. India registered its lowest Covid-19 numbers in the recent months on Oct 27 with 36,470 new cases, as per the Union Health Ministry.</p>.<p>Incidentally, on the same day, the number of new Covid-19 deaths also dropped below the 500 mark after several weeks. The relief, however, was a brief one as the daily toll crossed 500 on the very next day. On Thursday, the official record shows 517 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours.</p>.<p>More than 58% of these deaths occur in five states – Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Delhi. Similarly, nearly 57% of the new cases were concentrated in Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal and Karnataka.</p>.<p>“The bad news is that West Bengal, Kerala and Delhi all have R-values more than one. And Delhi has a whopping 1.13,” Sitabhra Sinha, a scientist at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai who is tracking the epidemic from the beginning with his model, told <em>DH</em>.</p>.<p>R is the number of persons one infected person can spread the infection to. An R-value of 1.9 means that 10 infected persons will on average cause 19 new infections. The R-value will be much below one for the nation as well as for individual states when the epidemic will subside.</p>.<p>The most alarming rise is being seen in Delhi that witnessed nearly 46% increase in the new cases over the past four weeks, and 9% jump in the positivity rate in the same period.</p>.<p>The rising cases were due to the social gatherings during the festivities, deteriorating air quality, increasing incidences of respiratory disorders and clusters of positive cases at workplaces, said a Health Ministry official.</p>.<p>In West Bengal, the average daily cases have recorded 23% increase over the last four weeks while there is 1% increase in the positivity rate. In the same period, the average daily cases have recorded an 11% increase in Kerala.</p>.<p>Since the increase in new cases due to festivities was a matter of grave concern, the states had been suggested to ramp up the awareness practices and promote mask-wearing with more rigour, the official said.</p>
<p>India’s Covid-19 numbers have begun to rise again for the past two days after dipping to a low of 36,000 plus with Kerala, Delhi and West Bengal emerging as the new trouble spots where the infection has spiralled fast.</p>.<p>Top central government officials on Thursday reviewed the Covid-19 situation with these three states, which had been advised to gear up the “testing, tracking and treatment’ strategy during the festival season besides giving a thrust to public awareness and enforcement of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.</p>.<p><strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/coronavirus-live-news-covid-19-latest-updates.html">Follow DH's coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic here</a></strong></p>.<p>In the last 24 hours, there were 49,881 new infections in the country whereas 43,893 cases were recorded on October 28. India registered its lowest Covid-19 numbers in the recent months on Oct 27 with 36,470 new cases, as per the Union Health Ministry.</p>.<p>Incidentally, on the same day, the number of new Covid-19 deaths also dropped below the 500 mark after several weeks. The relief, however, was a brief one as the daily toll crossed 500 on the very next day. On Thursday, the official record shows 517 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours.</p>.<p>More than 58% of these deaths occur in five states – Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Delhi. Similarly, nearly 57% of the new cases were concentrated in Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal and Karnataka.</p>.<p>“The bad news is that West Bengal, Kerala and Delhi all have R-values more than one. And Delhi has a whopping 1.13,” Sitabhra Sinha, a scientist at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai who is tracking the epidemic from the beginning with his model, told <em>DH</em>.</p>.<p>R is the number of persons one infected person can spread the infection to. An R-value of 1.9 means that 10 infected persons will on average cause 19 new infections. The R-value will be much below one for the nation as well as for individual states when the epidemic will subside.</p>.<p>The most alarming rise is being seen in Delhi that witnessed nearly 46% increase in the new cases over the past four weeks, and 9% jump in the positivity rate in the same period.</p>.<p>The rising cases were due to the social gatherings during the festivities, deteriorating air quality, increasing incidences of respiratory disorders and clusters of positive cases at workplaces, said a Health Ministry official.</p>.<p>In West Bengal, the average daily cases have recorded 23% increase over the last four weeks while there is 1% increase in the positivity rate. In the same period, the average daily cases have recorded an 11% increase in Kerala.</p>.<p>Since the increase in new cases due to festivities was a matter of grave concern, the states had been suggested to ramp up the awareness practices and promote mask-wearing with more rigour, the official said.</p>
