Third Wave Of Coronavirus in India Likely, Says PM's Scientific Advisor

Even as the country is reeling under the second wave of the COVID crisis, the PM's Scientific Advisor Dr K Vijay Raghavan made sensational remarks that the third wave was likely to hit India.

The Central government said on Wednesday a third phase of the coronavirus pandemic was “inevitable", but it is not clear on what time or scale this phase would occur and hence, we should be prepared for the same.

The Union Health Ministry held a briefing on the current COVID-10 situation and the vaccination programme underway in the country.

Phase three is inevitable given the higher levels of circulating virus, but it is not clear on what time-scale this phase three will occur. We should be prepared for new waves," said K Vijay Raghavan

Speaking further he said that those new variants of the virus are more transmissible, and as they gain entry, would mutate into different strains.

He said scientists across the world are working to anticipate the new variants and act against them rapidly by early warning and developing modified tools. “It’s an intense research program, happening in India and abroad," he said, adding that vaccines are effective against current variants.

The response to the changing virus remains the same. We need to follow the COVID- appropriate behaviour such as mask, distancing, hygiene, no unnecessary meetings and staying at home.

• Twelve states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, have more than 1 lakh active COVID cases, the government said.
• Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Bihar are among the states that show an increasing trend in daily cases, it said.
• The government also said that 24 states and UTs show more than 15 per cent COVID positivity rate.
• Officials said there are some areas of concern, like Bengaluru reporting around 1.49 lakh cases in the last week. Some districts, including Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Gurugram, have recorded a rapid spread of cases. 

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