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Third wave of pandemic won’t be as severe as previous ones: AIIMS director
India has been witnessing a fall in its daily tally of Covid-19 cases for a week now. On Tuesday, the country logged 7,579 infections—the lowest in 543 days and also the second consecutive day that new cases remained below the 10,000-mark.
The third wave of the coronavirus pandemic may not have the same severity as the first two as fewer Covid-19 cases in India indicate that the vaccines have been effective in providing protection against the viral disease, All India Institute of Medical Sciences director Randeep Guleria said on Tuesday.
“It is unlikely that the third wave of Covid-19 of a magnitude comparable to the first and second will hit India. With time, the pandemic will take an endemic form. We'll continue to get cases but the severity will be highly reduced,” Guleria was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
India has been witnessing a fall in its daily tally of Covid-19 cases for a week now. On Tuesday, the country logged 7,579 infections—the lowest in 543 days and also the second consecutive day that new cases remained below the 10,000-mark.
Guleria also said that there is no need for booster doses right now since there is no surge in Covid-19 cases but the government should focus on inoculating those who still have not taken a single dose and also on those whose second jab is overdue.
The AIIMS director, however, asked people to exercise caution. “We have to be watchful and careful of all the viruses in the world in this world of quick mobility,” he said.
Guleria was speaking at the book launch of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director general Balram Bhargava’s ‘Going Viral: Making of Covaxin - The Inside Story’.
ICMR’s Bhargava also said that there is currently no scientific evidence to support the need for a booster vaccine dose against Covid-19.
On Monday, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a meeting with officials to discuss low vaccination rates in Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Puducherry. These states and Union Territories are yet to inoculate at least 70 per cent of their population with the first dose.
The government has also launched the month-long ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign for inoculating those who are yet to get their first dose and also vaccinating those who are overdue on their second dose.
India is aiming to vaccinate its entire population by the end of this year but low vaccination rates in certain states coupled with people delaying their second dose could be a cause of concern, according to some medical experts.
