Many researchers have stated that the third wave of COVID-19 infection is likely to hit the country by October this year. Maharashtra government is all set and geared up to tackle the third wave but this time people of the country need to show more maturity.
As many as 40 healthcare specialists from around the world recently took part in a survey with regard to the influx of the deadly third wave of COVID. They noted that the third wave should be better managed than previous outbreaks, considering the increase in the pace of vaccinations in India.
Vaccination remains the core weapon against the virus and increasing the gap between the two doses of the vaccine may not be a bad approach to provide more people with protection, but this task is the main challenge. A new wave can usually take up to three months to spread. There needs to be an aggressive surveillance strategy at COVID hotspots and lockdowns in case of any significant surge.
This 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 prepare for new waves. India battled the second wave of the Covid-19 successfully. Several countries have already witnessed the fourth wave of Covid-19. The Supreme Court praised especially Maharashtra model and the state really battled it well.
Most of the medical think tanks predicted that in the winter, sometime in the end of November or early December (this year) there are chances of spread. Ensuring that all the vulnerable are vaccinated before the festive season of Diwali is important to save as many lives.
There are various influences that the third wave could ride on. Depends on several things in the period from now till December – The proportion of vaccinated people, prevention of super spreader events and all types of crowds, and how early we can detect newer variants and limit them to local areas
Professor M Vidyasagar, the government’s mathematical modelling expert, said, “Even though in the second wave, a fairly large number of people could have been infected, there are also those that remain untested, people who are generally asymptomatic and infected. These are the people who are going to remain immune for at least 6 months. However, they will begin to lose immunity towards that period. So, that is when we need to have our vaccination program well-underway, as even if they begin to lose their immunity, they should not remain susceptible to catch the virus.”
Currently, many variants of COVID are active in India and these variants are spreading the infection in different states and regions. The most dangerous of these is the Double Mutant virus, which scientists have named B.1.617 and this variant is made in India only.
So far, the UK variant of COVID, Brazil variant, South Africa variant and America has also got a variant in the country. Many more variants of the virus have been identified in different states. In this, the variant which is most discussed is the Andhra Pradesh variant. However, this variant is still limited in a few areas.
The study done by doctors says that these variants are currently creating new strains of the virus, due to which the virus can attack people by taking many forms. And due to so many variants, the third wave of COVID can come into the country.
The thing to understand here is that when the first wave of COVID came, the virus would kill the lungs in 10 days. In the second wave, this time period reduced from 5 to 7 days. And it is being said that in the third wave, it can be even 2 to 3 days.
Some studies have predicted that in the first wave, the virus attacked the elderly, in the second wave it is affecting the youth more and in the third wave, it can be dangerous for children.
According to a study, children under the age of 18 currently account for 30 per cent of the total population of India. And so far, no vaccine has been introduced for children under 18.
In this study, it has been estimated that if children above 18 years of age get vaccinated, then the virus will attack kids fewer than 18. And it can also cause serious harm to children aged 6 to 12 years. There is any third wave or no wave, what we need are care and precaution. We the citizens should take responsibility for following the norms and protect everyone.
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