SRINAGAR: A Covid-19 patient can spread the infection to at least four persons at one time in Jammu and Kashmir, a rate that is one of the highest in India, reveals a government study.
Done by the Health Ministry, Government of India, the study has found similar rates of transmission in other states, including Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Karnataka, Pondicherry, and Kerala, but Jammu and Kashmir has the highest rate of them all.
All these places have been found to have Reproductive Number (Ro), also called R-factor, a figure which tells about how infectious a patient can be, as more than one. In JK this factor is 1.4.
This means many things, said president of Doctor Association Kashmir Dr Mohamamd Yousif Tak. It means many patients who are positive but asymptomatic. It could also mean that handling of Covid patients has not been done under protocols.
“That is why Covid-appropriate behaviour is must. People should wear masks, maintain hygiene, and distance,” said the doctor. “People seem to have taken for granted that Covid is now history. They don’t wear masks, they don’t maintain distance. It is indicative that the third wave is coming.”
In case the virus has antigenic shifts, it could be more dangerous, he said. These shifts occur when two or more different strains of a virus or strains of two or more different viruses combine to form a new subtype.
Dr Rouf Hussain Rather, Community Medicine Specialist and in charge of data analysis at the Divisional Covid Control Room Kashmir, had told Kashmir Reader that the antigenic shift is the only scenario when even vaccines won’t work. However, if there are only slight antigenic changes, the vaccine will offer immunity, he said.
However, on the other hand, the recovery rate of patients in J&K has also been found to be good. At present, there is a 98.2 percent recovery rate.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz