3rd wave can be stopped: Centre

Top adviser says proper precautions can prevent new surge in Covid infections

New Delhi, May 7: There may not be a third wave of Coronavirus in the country if strong measures are taken and effectively implemented at the state, district and city-level, the country’s top scientific officer said on Friday, two days after he warned that this wave was inevitable.

K. Vijay Raghavan, principal scientific adviser, said the “insidious asymptomatic transmission” can be stopped if the guidance about precautions, surveillance, containment, treatment and testing is followed.

“If we take strong measures, the third wave may not happen in all places or indeed anywhere at all. It depends on much how effectively guidance is implemented at the local level in the states, districts and cities everywhere.”

“The guidance about precautions, about surveillance, about containment, about treatment and about tests. This insidious asymptomatic transmission can be stopped if we follow the guidelines. This sounds difficult, it is difficult and we can and must do it,” he said in a press briefing.

On May 5, Vijay Raghavan said as the virus mutates further, a third wave of Covid infection is inevitable and it is necessary to be prepared for new waves.

He said it was not expected that the second wave would hit the country with such ferocity. “Phase-3 is inevitable given the higher levels of circulating virus, but it is not clear on what time-scale this phase three will occur,” he had said.

Responding to a question on when the second wave which has already infected lakhs and killed thousands, will ebb, Vijay Raghavan said it has already started declining in some places. “The number of cases and the positivity will decline and there will be a lag in hospitalisation and mortality,” he added.

“There are other places of great concern all over the country. We must watch out and make sure that we take all steps to reduce and go up to the levels which are difficult to manage,” he cautioned.

Infections rise when the virus has the opportunity to infect humans. When the virus runs out of opportunities, the infection falls, he said.

New opportunities for infection may arise if people become complacent or unprotected, assuming the surge is over.

— K. Vijay Raghavan,

Principal scientific adviser, Govt of India