During the Health Ministry briefing amid rising COVID-19 cases, NITI Aayog's Dr VK Paul stated that COVID-19 R-value has risen to 2.69, which is higher than the peak of the second wave (1.69). The R-value is a way of rating disease's ability to spread. R-value of 2.69 means every 100 infected people can spread the infection to 269 people.