India Coronavirus Dispatch: Rural India saw spate of deaths in May

R-value rises for first time in two months, over 330 Covid deaths in central police forces, and more-news relevant to India's fight against the pandemic

Over 37,154 fresh cases reported

India reported 37,154 fresh coronavirus infections on Monday, taking the cumulative caseload to 30.8 million, according to central health ministry data. The country had 724 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the overall toll to 408,764. The active caseload is at 450,899, while total recoveries have surged to 300.1 million. As many as 377 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 1.2 million were given on Sunday. Read more here

India recorded 300,000 more deaths in May 2021 than the same period in 2019

Rural parts of India experienced a spate of fatalities due to "fever" and "unknown causes" coinciding with the second wave of Covid, a report in IndiaSpend said that cited new official data. The spike in undiagnosed deaths points to the scale of potential undercounting of Covid deaths in the country. There were 300,000 more deaths in May 2021 compared to May 2019, which is more than 2.5 times India’s official Covid death count for the same period, according to the latest data from the National Health Mission’s Health Management Information System. Read more here

R-value rises for first time in two months

India’s R-value for Covid-19—a key measure of how quickly the virus is spreading—has risen for the first time in over two months, going from 0.78 on June 20, to 0.88 in the first week of July, a report in ThePrint said.

According to researchers at the Chennai-based Institute of Mathematical Sciences, the R-value had remained at 0.78 for over 20 days beginning 8 June. In simple terms, the R-value 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 down. Read more here

Don't get complacent after one dose of vaccine: Experts

Health experts are warning people not to get complacent after just one dose of a vaccine, a report in The Indian Express said. “Most of the infections in vaccinated people occur after a single dose of vaccine. A single dose of vaccine is giving false security to people and they tend to lower their guard. There is a need to be more vigilant as it is only after two weeks of both vaccine doses that there will be some immunity,” said Dr Shashank Joshi, member of the Maharashtra Covid-19 taskforce. Read more

Over 330 Covid deaths in Central police forces

Over 84,000 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel have contracted Covid so far, and 331 have succumbed to the virus, report in The Indian Express said citing data from the Home Ministry. More than 35 per cent of infections and almost 40 per cent of deaths occurred in the period beginning from the third week of March, when the second wave of the pandemic started to pick up, the report said. Read it here.