PremiumWith 2,483 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's total tally of Covid-19 cases rose to 4,30,62,569, while the active cases dipped to 15,636 on Tuesday
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The probability of a fourth Covid-19 wave in India is “extremely low" but people should continue to wear masks in public places, said eminent virologist and former Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore professor Dr T Jacob John on Tuesday.
“If a fourth wave comes it will be a total surprise to me. Therefore I cannot guess anything about it. The probability of a fourth wave is extremely low. Our best defence against the ill effects of a wave is very high coverage of vaccination," news agency ANI quoted John as saying.
Emphasising the need to curb any surge in cases, he said that full vaccination means two doses plus a precautionary dose at least six months later. “The official version of two doses as full vaccination is unscientific," said John.
When asked about the surge being seen in some states, he said that Delhi and Haryana had minor increases in Covid numbers over the last two to three weeks but the increase was not being sustained.
"To my knowledge, no state is reporting a surge in Covid-19 cases. India remains with low and relatively steady numbers throughout March and April so far," said John.
"Delhi and Haryana had minor increases in the last two to three weeks but the increase is not being sustained. One thousand cases in Delhi is equal to just five per lakh population. During the "endemic" phase, which is applicable to India, we must not expect a continuous decline in numbers at all. Continuous falls can not occur because the end of such a graph is zero," he added.
On being asked about what should be done to control this surge, the virologist said: "Not using the mask is the number one culprit. I am disappointed that experts and policy leaders have not been teaching people the immense value of wearing a mask when interacting with people."
John was also not in favour of shutting schools. "Not at all. Schools should remain open. During the 'endemic phase' which is our present as well as future, we will find an occasional case which should be dealt with in a case by case manner," he said.
So is there a new variant of the coronavirus? To this, the virologist responded in the negative.
"Wherever there were ups, there have been downs also. The rises are not sustained at all. So I don't think any new variant is involved. However, variant screening must be sustained so that the virus does not surprise us again," he noted.
Earlier, renowned cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Prasad Shetty had also said that there is no need to fear or panic now and the focus should be on the number of hospitalisations.
"Third wave was not that serious, so there is no need to fear or have panic reactions. We should only go by the number of patients admitted in hospital. One lakh people or 50,000 people getting positive does not mean anything," he said on Monday.
“The whole country may be positive, but if there are no Covid patients in hospital, it doesn't make any difference. So concentration should be on the number of patients in the hospital, not the positivity," he added.
With inputs from agencies.