COVID Third Wave A Real Possibility Due To Rising Delta Variant Cases: Report

New Delhi: Rising coronavirus Delta variant cases and further mutations of the virus have strengthened the probability of a third wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India, a foreign firm has cautioned.

According to chief economist of UBS Securities India Tanvee Gupta Jain, the risk of a third wave is more real now as economic activity has improved for the seventh successive week as several states are gradually easing curbs on movement, reported PTI.

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The UBS report pointed out two significant factors which don’t augur well for India — pace of vaccination has slowed down to around 3.4 million doses per day from 4 million jabs and 45 per cent of current daily COVID-19 case count are from rural regions.

Gupta Jain noted in the report that although daily COVID-19 cases seem to have plateaued, it’s still remains much above the 2021 trough and the drop in active caseload has started to narrow down.

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Another worrying indicator is that in more than 20 per cent of the districts which are reporting most number of daily cases, the second wave of COVID-19 has not yet slowed down and the third wave has already set in. A month ago, that figure was only 5 per cent, the report observed.

World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said on Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic is now in the “early stages” of the third wave.