India Coronavirus Dispatch: Nationwide virus reproduction value rises again

Study shows virus variants in India have multiple origins, protocols in place to control crowd size at upcoming Kumbh Mela-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

IN NUMBERS: Over 18,000 fresh cases reported

India reported 18,711 fresh coronavirus infections on Sunday, taking the cumulative caseload to 11,210,799, according to a report in the Scroll. The country saw 100 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 157,756, according to central health ministry data. The active caseload is at 184,523, while the total recoveries have surged to 10,868,520. As many as 20,922,344 people have been inoculated since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 1,424,693 received their shots on Saturday. Read more here

Covid-19 reproduction value rises further to 1.06

India’s effective reproduction value (R) for Covid-19 rose further to 1.06 this week from 1.02 last 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. At the start of the pandemic, the R-value was 1.7, and rose to as high as 1.83. Since then, the R-value fell under 1 and had stayed at 0.92 for several weeks at the start of the year. But last week, the value crossed 1 again sparking concerns of a second wave. Read more here 

Coronavirus variants in India have multiple origins: IISc

A team of researchers at Bengaluru's Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have found that the coronavirus variants circulating in India have multiple origins rather than having evolved from a single variant, a report in ThePrint said. The scientists also found that the virus samples from Bengaluru most closely related to the ones from Bangladesh. Read more here

Covid protocols in place to control size of crowd at Kumbh Mela

Several curbs have been put in place to control the size of the crowd at this year's Kumbh Mela that will be celebrated on the ghats of Ganga in Haridwar next month, a report in The Indian Express said. RT-PCR test results are mandatory to be allowed entry into the Mela area. Devotees will also have to compulsorily register themselves on the Kumbh Mela portal before embarking on their travel. Only after verification of uploaded documents, the devotees will be issued an e-pass to enter the Mela area. Read more here

Certain skin rashes are also a symptom of Covid-19

While coughing, high fever, and loss of smell and taste are some common symptoms of Covid-19 that people are aware of, few know that some skin rashes could also indicate an infection from coronavirus, a report in Hindustan Times said. Research published in The Lancet journal said skin redness, hives and chicken pox-like blisters “developed at the onset of SARS-CoV-2 infection or during hospital stay and did not correlate with disease severity.” Read more here