Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and Mortality Rate in India: The Winning Edge
Gyaneshwer Chaubey
Abstract
The Covid-19 outbreak is due to a virus which emerged in China at the end of December 2019, and is now widespread in more than 200 countries worldwide (1). Several researches have highlighted that it was introduced to humans from bats (2, 3). The infection spreads like a chain reaction as one infected person passes this virus to two or three others, who then continue to spread it in a similar manner (Figure The number of people infected in a region from a single person is estimated as R 0 (R zero). R 0 is the rate at which new infections stem from a single case (4). R 0 <1 indicates the reduction of cases, whereas R 0 > 1 suggests that the number of cases are increasing. The global R 0 value for Covid-19 is estimated to range between 3 and 5, which is twice as fast as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) (5). This is why the spread of Covid-19 is so rapid, and why the number of infected people double every 5-10 days (Coronavirus in India). The socioeconomic impact of Covid-19 is disruptive, and the whole world is looking forward to the end of this crisis. Similar to other countries, its transmission among the Indian population is evident. But the major question is its fate in India, as India makes up one-fifth of the world's population. The recent report makes India's fate more vulnerable, by estimating that the total number of reported cases are 10fold less than the total number of infected people (6). Thus, such complexity makes India one of the most monitored countries during this pandemic.