Pandemic far from over, 8 states show rise in R-Factor: Centre warns amid Delta variant spread

"Pandemic is far from over; the second wave, as far as India is concerned, is still not over. Daily new COVID19 cases reported across the world is still high; more than 4.7 lakhs," Union Health Ministry's Joint Secretary Luv Agarwal said addressing a media briefing.

As many as 44 districts have reported a high case positivity and the Delta-driven second wave is still not over, warned VK Paul, who heads the government's Covid task force.

Eighteen districts showed an increasing trend in cases in the last four weeks, according to the government.

"Delta variant is a dominant problem. The pandemic is still raging and the second wave is persisting in our own country," Dr Paul said.

He expressed concern about the R-factor or the reproductive rate of a virus, which indicates how fast it is spreading.

"Please remember that R number should be 0.6 or below. If it has gone over 1, it shows it is a significant problem and the virus wants to spread," said Dr Paul.

The states where the R-factor is more than one are Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala.

Only Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra show a declining trend and in states like Bengal, Nagaland, Haryana, Goa, Delhi and Jharkhand the R-factor is at 1.

The government informed that 49.85 percent of the total cases in last week were reported from Kerala.

Districts with greater than 100 cases declined from 279 in the week ending on June 1st to 57 in the week ending on August 1st, it said.

Meanwhile, India’s Cumulative COVID Vaccination Coverage has crossed 48 crore landmark milestones (48,41,81,676), as per the 7 pm provisional report on Tuesday.

The country reported 30,549 new Covid cases and 422 deaths in the past 24 hours. It is a sharp drop from the 40,134 cases reported on Monday.