Since mid-September, the number of daily new COVID-19 cases recorded has been reducing from the peak of 90,000-odd cases. A few days ago, the COVID-19 India National Supermodel Committee, constituted by the Department of Science and Technology, based on mathematical modelling studies, concluded that India had passed the COVID-19 peak in September. It also found that there will be fewer than 50,000 active cases from December and if proper safety protocols continue to be followed, the pandemic can be “controlled by early next year” with “minimal” active symptomatic infections by end-February. We discuss whether India has gone past the peak.

Guests: Giridhara R. Babu, a Professor of Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India, Bengaluru, and a member of the Karnataka COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee; Gautam Menon, a Professor of Physics and Biology at Ashoka University and co-author of COVID-19 modelling studies.

Host: R. Prasad, Science Editor, The Hindu

You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.

Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at [email protected]