1 COVID-19 patient can infect 406 people in 30 days if he doesn't follow lockdown, social distancing norms: ICMR study

A recent study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has shown that a person infected with coronavirus can infect 406 others in just 30 days if he does not follow the lockdown and social distancing norms, said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, on Tuesday.

"If one person does not follow lockdown and social distancing norms, he can infect 406 people in 30 days. However, if the social exposure is reduced by 75 per cent, then the same infected person can spread it to just 2.5 people," said Aggarwal at a press conference here.

"It is, therefore, our appeal to all of you to follow the lockdown and social distancing measures. We should understand that this is a very important intervention in the management of COVID-19," he added.

Aggarwal further said that Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan was right in stating that "social distancing is social vaccine" in the management of the infection.

The Joint Secretary of the Health Ministry said that the RNOT component (which is the number of persons to whom an infected person can spread the disease) of coronavirus is between 1.5 to 4 for COVID-19.

With 354 new cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the total count of coronavirus positive cases in the country has gone up to 4,421, said he.

"A total of 4,421 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in India till now as 354 new cases were reported since yesterday. A total of 117 deaths have been reported so far including 8 deaths reported since yesterday," Aggarwal informed.

Aggarwal further said that till now 326 persons have been discharged after recovering the infection, adding the government is adopting a strategy for cluster containment.