Covid-19 R-value climbing steadily in country 100% rise in hair loss among patients

The R-factor, which indicates the speed at which Covid19 infection is spreading in the country, is climbing steadily with Kerala and the northeastern states occupying top spots fuelling worries about the pandemic rearing its head again.

Among the metro cities, the R-values of Pune and Delhi are inching towards one, suggests an analysis by researchers at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai.

The national capital on Thursday recorded 51 fresh Covid-19 cases with a positivity rate of 0.08 per cent. Active cases in Delhi stand at 554. Both the daily rise in cases and active infections have remained more or less the same.

When the number of active cases remains in the

Delhi, July 29: Delhi’s Indraprastha Apollo Hospital has seen a 100 per cent rise in complaints of hair loss among Coronavirus patients, doctors said on Thursday.

Normally, according to a spokesperson, the private hospital in South Delhi would record four to five complaints of hair loss a week. However, hair loss cases “started increasing from mid-May and a consolidated report says we have been seeing double

range of a few hundred and the R-value is near one, then an outbreak can be controlled much easier, Sitabhra Sinha of the the number of cases since then”, the spokesperson said.

Usually, Covid patients experience hair loss a month after recovering from the disease. In some cases, hair loss is observed during the infection period, too, doctors said.

Deficiencies due to change in dietary habits, fever during the infection, stress, anxiety, sudden hormonal changes and persistent post-Covid inflammatory reactions are some

Institute of Mathematical Sciences, who is leading the team, said.

When the second wave of the Covid-19 infection was of the reasons for the temporary hair loss, they said.

Dr Shahin Nooreyezdan, senior consultant, cosmetic and plastic surgery, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, said, “We have seen a two-fold rise in the number of patients complaining of problems related to hair loss. “Post-Covid inflammation has been a major contributor. Deficiencies due to a compromised nutritional intake, sudden changes in weight, hormonal disturbances and

at its peak, the overall Rvalue in the country was estimated to be 1.37 between March 9 to April 21. It declined to 1.18 reduced vitamin D and

B12 levels are some of the major reasons for the loss of large volumes of hair loss post-infection,” he said. Dr Kuldeep Singh, senior consultant, cosmetology and plastic surgery, said, “Hair loss post-Covid is temporary in nature and is due to a condition called Telogen Effluvium. It is a result of the shock the body sustains after suffering from fever and other symptoms during

Covid-19.” — between April 24 and May 1 and then to 1.1 between April 29 and May 7, according to the analysis.

Between May 9 and 11, the R-value was estimated to be around 0.98. It dropped to 0.82 between May 14 and May 30 and further to 0.78 from May 15 to June 26. The R-value however rose to 0.88 from June 20 to July 7 and then to 0.95 from July 3-22.

“India’s overall active cases are fluctuating too much to get a reliable estimate, but data is pointing at a value close to one. It may tip over either way in the coming few days,” said Sinha. An R-value of 0.95 means, every 100 infected people on an average pass on the infection to 95 other individuals. If the R-value is lesser than one, it means the number of newly infected people is lower than the number of infected people in the preceding period which means the disease incidence is going down. —