COVID-19: Next Wave Can’t Be Predicted But Can Be Prevented: WHO Regional Director

New Delhi: A possible third wave of COVID-19 pandemic can’t be predicted but can be prevented, and so India must work towards that. That’s the view of World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia regional director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh.

India has suffered a deadly second wave from April which saw daily new coronavirus cases go up to over 4 lakh. And even though the graph is plateauing, with steady decline in number of daily infections, the situation continues to be of concern and challenge, she said.

“This surge has put an immense burden on already overwhelmed health services. We are now witnessing a plateau and even a decline in cases in some parts of India. The situation continues to be of concern and challenge,” she said.

“Lesson learned from this surge is that at no cost can we let our guards down. We must take the Covid-19 vaccine at the first available opportunity. While we can’t predict the next surge, we can prevent it, which we must,” she added.

It may be called that the Union government’s top scientific adviser Dr K Vijay Raghavan had said early this month that a third wave of coronavirus was ‘inevitable’ in India.

India saw 1.65 lakh new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which is the lowest in a month and a half. The positivity rate has been under 10% for sixth consecutive days.

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