Given that there is no vaccine yet available for children in India, Dr. Ramakanta Panda of Mumbai's Asian Heart Institute encourages parents to pray from home, and not take children to visit pandals.

It is well known that children have been spared the extreme consequences of COVID-19. The virus enters the body through the ACE2 'receptor', the protein which provides the entry point for the coronavirus to hook into and infect a wide range of human cells.

These receptors are not matured in children. However, it has been established that a very small percentage of children may get complications.

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"Rare but severe incidences of systemic inflammatory disease have been found as a result of COVID-19 in kids. Now while this incidence is extremely low, for the family that suffers, the risk is 100% and the consequences are devastating. We have to see things from perspective. In the absence of a vaccine for kids, it is best that families pray from home," explains Dr. Ramakanta Panda of Mumbai's famed Asian Heart Institute.

The government and medical fraternity have constantly warned that it is not yet time to throw caution to the wind. Practices such as mask, steam inhalation, and social distancing have to continue if we have to decisively prevent a third wave and protect our health.