E-Paper
Possibility of 3rd Covid wave low in Haryana, next 4 weeks crucial: Experts
Haryana nodal officer for Covid, Dr Dhruva Chaudhary said that molecular surveillance of Covid cases needs to be done for the emergence of new variants
With Haryana experiencing a low coronavirus infection count during the festival season, the health authorities are increasingly becoming confident about staving off the third wave.
For nine weeks in a row, the number of weekly active cases have remained in double digits.
Since Dussehra in mid-October, the past four weeks have seen 83, 81, 95 and 74 infections, as per the health department data.
Additional chief secretary, health, Rajeev Arora, said despite the low levels of viral infection in the state, there is a need to be watchful for a month. “We will lay emphasis on enhanced testing and increase the pace of vaccination to consolidate the gains of the past few months to keep the Covid spread at very low levels,” he added.
State nodal officer for Covid, Dr Dhruva Chaudhary said that molecular surveillance of Covid cases needs to be done for the emergence of new variants.
Dr Chaudhary said though he does not see a third wave of infection coming yet, the health authorities are keeping their fingers crossed. “I will get concerned only if there are breakthrough infections and hospital admissions. As of now, the delta variant is not a cause of concern,” he added.
The nodal officer said the reason for a minimal infection count is that a majority people now have antibodies to fight the virus. “The third round of serological survey showed that about 76% of our population has antibodies either due to infection or vaccination. Past infection and aggressive vaccination are responsible for the decline in cases. However, next two weeks will be very crucial. We need to be vigilant and see whether there is any increase in the infection rate,” Dr Chaudhary added.
After going through the roof with over a lakh infections in the first week of May, the virus load in the state has been on a constant decline for 26 consecutive weeks.
Health department statistics showed that 74 fresh infections were reported last week (November 1-7) as compared to 95 the week before (October 25-31). There are 13 districts, which do not have even a single active case.
The data also showed that 1.04 lakh persons were tested last week, a per day average of about 14,995 samples.
The second wave of virus during the devastating six-week period in April and May had thrown more than 4.21 lakh infections and over 4,200 fatalities in the state. While the virus, as per the data, took 249 days to hit peak in November 2020 during the first wave, it took just 93 days to peak during the second wave this May, primarily due to the virulence of the highly contagious delta variant.
The state has so far inoculated about 2.61 crore people, 87% of whom have got the first jab and about 40% have been administered both the doses.
