India's Omicron surge explained: Reproduction number up, doubling time down

As several parts of India witness a surge due to Omicron, two indicators-effective reproduction number (R) and doubling time-suggest a further increase in cases in the coming days

For the first time in seven months, India recorded over 100,000 cases on January 6, 2022. As several parts of the country witness a surge due to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, two indicators–effective reproduction number (R) and doubling time–suggest a further increase in cases in the coming days.

The reproduction number is a measure of transmission–the average number of people infected by one infected person. The government announced on January 5 that the R is 2.69 and this is higher than the R during the second wave. That is, each Covid-19 patient is infecting