(Image source from: business-standard.com)

There are a lot of debates going on about the third wave of coronavirus in the country. The cases also have seen a sudden rise all over and the third wave is now present in New Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka. As per the preliminary analysis from the IIT Madras, the R-naught vale of India is recorded at 4 this week and the third wave would reach its peaks between February 1-15. R-naught indicates the number of people an infected can spread the virus to. If the value goes below 1, the pandemic will be considered to be ended. IIT Madras shared the information with the PTI and it said that the RO value is 2.9 in India last week and it is 4 this week.

Dr Jayant Jha, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, IIT Madras said that R-naught depends on the probability of transmission, the contact rate and the time interval in which the infection happens. Dr Jayant Jha says that the restrictions can reduce the contact rate through which the spread decreases. He said that the numbers will change every week based on the discipline of the people. Everyone should be masked up and they should follow social distancing guidelines, told Dr Jayant Jha. The Centre says that the Omicron variant is the reason for the huge spread of coronavirus in the country but there are debates that the delta variant too is present in India. The good thing in India is more than 50 percent of the population are fully vaccinated.

By Siva Kumar