News Analysis India

Tag: Virus

  • COVID-19 third wave could peak between October-November: IIT-Kanpur scientist

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India may see a third wave of COVID-19 peaking between October and November if a more virulent mutant than the existing ones emerge by September, but its intensity is expected to be much lower than the second wave, a scientist involved in the mathematical modelling of the pandemic said on Monday.

    Manindra Agrawal, an IIT-Kanpur scientist who is part of the three-member team of experts that have been tasked with predicting any surge in infections, said if no new virulent emerges, then the situation is unlikely to change.

    Status Quo is when no new mutant comes and New Variant is when 50% more infectious mutant comes by September. As one can see, the only scenario with some semblance of third wave is New Variant one for epsilon = 1/33. In this scenario, new cases rise to ~1 lakh per day. pic.twitter.com/ECNLGgWjLs
    — Manindra Agrawal (@agrawalmanindra) August 29, 2021
    If the third wave peaks, the country may see only 1 lakh daily cases as against more than 4 lakh when the deadly second wave was at its peak in May. The second wave killed thousands and infected several lakh. “Status Quo is when no new mutant comes and New Variant is when 50% more infectious mutant comes by September. As one can see, the only scenario with some semblance of third wave is New Variant one for epsilon = 1/33. In this scenario, new cases rise to ~1 lakh per day,” Agrawal tweeted.

    Last month, the model suggested that the third wave could peak between October and November and the daily cases could shoot between 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh every day if a more virulent mutant of SARS-CoV2 drive fresh infections.

    However, no mutant that was more infectious than the Delta, which drove the infections during the third wave, emerged. Last week’s forecast was the same, but only the range of daily cases has been brought down to 1-1.5 lakh in the latest one.

    ALSO READ| Gehlot expresses serious concern over rising COVID-19 cases in country

    With the fresh data, the daily infections are further expected to drop in the range of a lakh. Agrawal said the fresh data comprising the vaccinations that have taken place in July and August, the sero-surveys that gave insights about the anti-bodies were factored in while assuming the scenarios.

    According to a study by the researchers of Institute of Mathematical Sciences, the R or the Reproductive value of the coronavirus pandemic was 0.89. It is necessary that the R value is under one that can help arrest the spread of infection.

    Vaccination has been the biggest weapon worldwide to combat coronavirus and more than 63 crore doses have been administered in the country, according to the CoWIN dashboard.

    ALSO WATCH |

  • Varun Chakravarthy to Sandeep Warrier to Amit Mishra – How the virus travelled

     From Varun Chakravarthy to Sandeep Warrier to Amit Mishra, the dreaded Covid-19 virus slithered from one camp into another as BCCI’s protocols on social distancing saw small but negligent breaches last week.
    With the GPS tracking device (FOB) being labelled ‘faulty’ by the franchises, the teams and the board worked on manual contact tracing to understand how Covid breached the bio-bubble.

    Later, both players travelled with the rest of the team for practice, where Chakravarthy complained about not feeling well. The player was isolated in the masseur’s room while Warrier headed for practice, where Delhi Capitals’ net session was also going on.
    Here’s where BCCI believes the breach occurred, as practice sessions – of KKR and Delhi Capitals – ended up being scheduled at the same time. Warrier met leg-spinner Amit Mishra during the nets and the two cricketers chatted for a while before parting ways.
    Mishra returned to the team hotel after practice and complained about not feeling well. That is when the spinner too was put under isolation and further tests were carried out.
    The franchises then worked towards a daily testing routine to identify if any other positive cases were emerging and concluded that the rest of the camp was negative.