Bhubaneswar: While an expert panel set up by an institute under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has predicted the onset third wave of COVID-19 anytime between September and October, IIT Kanpur’s study Sutra model said that it would be a “ripple” in the absence of a faster-spreading mutant.
Referring to this, Director of Medical Education & Training (DMET) CBK Mohanty on Wednesday told the media the third wave will not be as intense as the second wave. “A new variant of COVI-19, however, may multiply the intensity. A few models have projected 4-5 lakh cases daily, others say it won’t be that severe,” he said.
Mohanty said that the IIT-Kanpur model, which took into account vaccination, community spread and other factors, has projected a daily infection of 2000 by mid-October in Odisha if the relaxations are further relaxed. “If the virus mutates, the caseload will be around 5,000,” he added.
On August 23, the DMET said Odisha may see around 14,000 new cases daily during the peak of the third wave, which is likely to hit next month as per a panel of the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM).
“The daily cases in the country may reach 4 lakh in the impending third wave of COVID-19 and Odisha may log 14,000 cases every day. As per experts, the children could be affected as severely as adults,” he had said.
Odisha has been reporting less than 1000 daily cases for the last six days.
The state had seen 887, 625, 761, 853, 911, 986 and 1041 new cases on Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday, Sunday, Saturday, Friday and Thursday respectively.
Also Read: Daily COVID Caseload Rises In Odisha; Infection Rate Among Children Jumps To 15%
