Third wave of COVID ‘inevitable’: Government

A third Covid-19 wave is inevitable but the timing could not be predicted, the Centre said on Wednesday. “Phase 3 is inevitable, given the levels at which the virus is circulating. But it is not clear at what time scale this will occur. Hopefully when it occurs, we would be prepared for the virus,” Said principal scientific advisor K Vijay Raghavan.

The government maintained that though scientists had predicted a second wave, the high Covid-19 numbers being reported to the tune of 4 lakh per day were never expected. “Such a large wave as we are seeing now was not expected,” Raghavan said addressing a health ministry briefing on Wednesday. The principal scientific advisor said that usually the second wave is expected to be smaller than the first.

Almost half the cases reported worldwide are in India at the moment. As per health ministry statistics, 10 states have more than 25% positivity and an increasing trend is seen in northeastern states which had so far reported very low numbers.

Despite the increasing Covid-19 cases, the Centre has been averse to a national lockdown and has instead asked states to implement strict protocols restricting intermingling of people. Asked if a national lockdown was the only solution to contain the unprecedented rise in cases, Niti Aayog member (health) VK Paul said, “if anything more is required those options are always being discussed. There’s already a guideline to states to impose restrictions to suppress the chain of transmission.”

The government is now mapping all possible mutations that can happen in the virus to be better prepared for the third wave. The principal scientific advisor said that there could be a need to update the vaccines with the growing mutations. “Vaccines will need to be updated to tackle the new strains that are spreading the contagion fast,” he said.