Randeep Guleria AIIMS Director gave warning and said that the
in six to eight weeks third wave of COVID-19 can happen we do not follow norms.
“Until a sizeable number of the population are vaccinated, COVID-appropriate behaviour needs to be followed aggressively,” Guleria said and stressed on the need for stricter surveillance and area-specific lockdowns in case of a significant surge. He added that ‘if COVID-appropriate behaviour is not followed, the third wave can happen in six to eight weeks.’
“We need to work aggressively to prevent another large wave till vaccination kicks in,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
“With a decline in the number of active cases, many states and UTs have started relaxing restrictions? However, easing of restrictions in some states, has led to resumption of crowding of people in markets etc., without adherence to the norms of COVID-appropriate behaviour,” Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said during a communication to all states and Union Territories.
Earlier Dr Samiran Panda, head of the Department of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said that the third wave of corona virus infection in the country may come by the end of August. However, he also said that the effect of the third wave will be less as compared to the second wave. He said that the third wave of infection will also be seen in the whole country.
Talking to the news channel Dr. Panda said, “There are mainly four things that can be responsible for the third wave. If the immunity acquired during the first, first and second wave, if it is less, then the third wave can come. Second, any variant that can bypass the immunity already acquired. Third, the new variant may not be able to bypass immunity, but can spread rapidly among people. And fourth, if the restrictions are lifted prematurely by the states, a new wave of infections may be seen.”
Could the Delta Plus variant be responsible for the third wave? In response to this question, he said that Delta (B.1.617.2) and Delta Plus(AY.1), both variants have spread in the country. “This kind of health crisis cannot happen anymore because of the delta variant,” he said.
