The SUTRA model is a mathematical model used by the govt to fight the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. SUTRA which stands for for Susceptible, Undetected, Tested (positive) and Removed Approach, hit the headlines when one of its expert members informed in October 2020 that India had crossed the Covid 19 peak.
Speaking to Vikram Chandra on editorji, Dr M Vidyasagar, Professor, IIT Hyderabad who worked on this model, explains how data-centric modelling such as SUTRA work to predict the trajectory of a pandemic. He says, the changing behaviour of the virus, fact that some people were bigger transmitters of the virus than others were important parameters that showed there was lack of social or geographic heterogeneity as the disease spiralled.