PremiumThere is no data, either from India or globally, to show that children will be seriously infected in subsequent waves of covid-19 pandemic, Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) affirmed on Tuesday.
Calling the debate over subsequent waves of the covid-19 pandemic likely to cause severe illness in children-- a “piece of misinformation", Guleria said that 60% to 70% of the children who got infected and got admitted in hospitals during the second covid-19 wave in India, had either comorbidities or low immunity; healthy children recovered with mild illness without need for hospitalization.
The statement comes at a time when various hospitals across the country are planning to make paediatric wards for covid-19. Andhra Pradesh government, in view of the threat of third wave striking the country which according to experts may affect children more, the State Government has decided to set up paediatric care centres at Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Krishna-Guntur regions. Similarly, The Telangana State Health Department is gearing up to face the likely third wave of Corona pandemic and decided to increase number of beds in Govt hospitals by 6,000 and procure medical equipment and medicines to treat the children affected by Covid.
Global pharma major Pfizer on Monday announced to partner with the NGO Doctors For You to help create Oxygen Bed capacity at Delhi’s Yamuna COVID Care Centre. With several experts claiming that the third wave would hit children, around 10% of beds have been set up to specifically meet the requirements of covid-19 pediatric patients.
The AIIMS New Delhi Director explaining why waves occur in any pandemic said that disease waves normally occur in pandemics caused due to respiratory viruses; the 1918 Spanish Flu, H1N1 (swine) flu are examples.
“The second wave of 1918 Spanish Flu was the biggest, after which there was a smaller third wave. And as we know, SARS-Cov-2 is a respiratory virus. Multiple waves occur when there is a susceptible population. When a large part of the population acquires immunity against the infection, the virus becomes endemic and infection becomes seasonal – like that of H1N1 that commonly spreads during monsoon or winters," said Guleria. The AIIMS chief said that waves can occur due to change in the virus (such as new variants). Since new mutations become more infectious, there is a higher chance for the virus to spread. One of the reasons behind a wave can be human behaviour, said Guleria.
“Whenever cases increase, there is a fear in people and human behaviour changes. People strictly follow COVID Appropriate behaviours and non-pharmaceutical interventions help break the chain of transmission. But when unlocking resumes, people tend to think that not much infection will happen and tend to not follow COVID appropriate behaviour. Due to this, the virus again starts spreading in the community, leading potentially to another wave," Guleria cautioned.
“If we have to stop subsequent waves, we need to aggressively follow COVID appropriate behaviour until we can say that a significant number of our population is vaccinated or has acquired natural immunity. “When enough people are vaccinated or when we acquire natural immunity against the infection, then these waves will stop, he said adding that the only way out is to strictly follow COVID appropriate behaviour.
Meanwhile, India in last 24 hours, reported less than 1 Lakh Daily fresh covid-19 cases after 63 days. At least 86,498 new cases reported in last 24 hours; lowest in 66 days, the union health ministry data showed. Testing capacity has been substantially ramped up to 36.8 crores tests total conducted. The government also said that nearly 24 crores covid-19 vaccine doses administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive.
“There has been a continuous decrease in cases since India reported a peak on 7th May. In last 24 hours India recorded the lowest ever daily new cases since 3rd April. Almost 79% decline in cases since the highest reported peak in daily new cases. There has been a consistent decline in average daily new cases since week of 5-11 May," said Lav Aggarwal, joint secretary, union health ministry during a press briefing.
“There has been a decline of 33% in average daily new cases since last week. There has also been a consistent decline in active cases - 13.03 lakh active cases. We have noticed a decline by about 65%- decrease in Active Cases by more than 24.4 lakhs since peak on 10th May," said Aggarwal adding that there has been a sharp decline in weekly positivity at 70% decrease in last 5 weeks.
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