India Coronavirus Dispatch: Covid reproduction number back over 1

Difference between a virus strain and a variant, latest numbers on pandemic, govt's target to meet 400 mln doses target by July-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

IN NUMBERS: Over 16,500 fresh cases reported

India reported 16,752 fresh coronavirus infections on Sunday, taking the cumulative caseload to 11,096,731, according to a report in the Scroll. The country saw 113 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 157,051, according to central health ministry data. The total recoveries have surged to 10,775,169, while the active caseload is at 164,511. As many as 14.3 million healthcare and frontline workers have been inoculated since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Read more here

Covid-19 R-value back over 1 

India’s effective reproduction value (R) for Covid-19 was back over 1 this week, according to a report in ThePrint. The R-value is a key measure of how quickly the virus is spreading. In simple terms, it is the average number of people who become infected by an infected individual. If the R-value is above 1, the virus will spread quickly. If it is below 1, the virus will slow. The R-value increased to 1.02 this week from 0.93 last week. The increase is mainly driven by the fact that half of the top 16 states, in terms of active cases, have an R-value over 1. The metric had stayed under 1 for many weeks in a row sparking optimism that the spread of the virus had been largely curbed. Read more here

India unlikely to meet 400 mln doses target by July

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said in October last year that the government aims to administer 400-500 million shots and inoculate 200-250 million people by July this year. At the current pace, India will have administered just 60 million doses by the end of July or about 15% of the target, a report in The Hindu said. India needs to ramp up the pace of vaccinations from the current 0.3 million doses a day to an ambitious 2.44 million doses a day to meet the target. Read more here

What is the difference between a virus strain and a variant?

According to a report in ThePrint, a strain typically describes different kinds of viruses within a virus family. In other words, it is a genetically distinct subtype within a family of virus. For instance, within the coronavirus family, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a distinct strain, as is the SARS-CoV virus, which caused an outbreak in 2003, and the MERS-CoV virus that caused an outbreak in 2012. On the other hand, a variant is a genetically distinct subtype within a family of virus. But, it is not different enough to be classified as a strain on its own. For instance, the more infectious variant B.1.1.17, commonly known as the UK variant, is technically a variant and not a strain. Read more here

Second national wave unlikely: Expert

India is unlikely to experience a second wave of the pandemic despite the recent spike in cases, according to Deputy Director at IIT, Kanpur, Manindra Agrawal, a report in The Hindu said. Agrawal said the current spike, where daily cases are averaging between 13,000 and 16,000 since February 23, is driven mainly by Maharashtra and would not last beyond "2-3 weeks" in March. Agrawal is one of India's leading mathematicians and is involved with the National ‘Super Model’ initiative, led by the Department of Science and Technology, the report said. Read more here