In a 50-minute interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, Dr Narendra Kumar Arora, chairperson of India’s COVID-19 working group, spelled out his concerns with the Public Health England study.
He said, “I have gone through every word of that study and I have serious concerns”. The first is its small sample size. The study says it had access to 1,054 cases of B.1.617.2. The second concern is the study period which Dr Arora said is around six weeks from April 5 to May 16. The third concern, he said, is the uncertainty band surrounding the 33% point estimate which he said makes the point estimate questionable.