Last updated on September 17th, 2023 at 04:33 pm
India is making significant strides in the fight against coronavirus cases. With coordinated efforts at educating and protecting the population, India will soon become a model for other countries in preventing a third wave of Covid-19 infection.
Soumya Swaminathan, head of Research and Development for the WHO and WHO South East Asia, India and Pacific regions told: “India could have a big surge. The next two weeks will tell us.”
On Twitter, Dr. Swaminathan says that healthcare systems can get overwhelmed if they are faced with sudden, large surges of patients. He states that the sudden health care surge caused by upcoming weeks in India can be similar to viral waves before it subsides back into epidemic levels.
Two Weeks Alerts
India reported over 54,000 new cases and the modelling projections indicate a likely high for the period between the last week of January and first week of February. The country is better prepared fore the Third wave as compared to the Delta wave.
As India emerges from the first two waves of this virus, next two weeks are vital in fighting the third wave. Prevention techniques should consider changing international standards for simple infection control like hand-washing to stricter standards like mask-usage to help reduce emissions.
Become more potent
As Delhi minister Satyendra Jain says: “‘We do not know whether this variant of the virus has mutated and become more potent,” and that “this is the main challenge,’ (Gene sequencing reports from Rajasthan confirm Zika is circulating in Rajasthan)
In the two weeks to come, a crucial fight against a third wave can unfold in India. Experts recommended wearing masks for an extra layer of protection from the virus variant that is more transmissible, but that wearing a mask is ineffective with a textile mask or when faced with choking congestion.
Three Times more transmissible
For India, the next two weeks will be crucial to fight against a new variant of the virus. India’s Center alerted states and UTs that the new variant is three times more transmissible than the highly infectious Delta variant. As well, union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan advised states to activate war rooms, keep analysing all trends and surges, no matter how small, and keep taking proactive action at district or local levels.
The Centre has asked states to focus on “strategic areas of intervention”, including containment, testing, tracking, surveillance, clinical management, vaccination and following Covid-appropriate norms. They also ask for strengthening health infrastructure in case of a sudden surge with fulfilling their instruction of increasing bed capacity with ambulances available throughout the country.
