Third COVID-19 Wave Likely To Subside Across India By March: Top ICMR Officials
Mumbai: As the COVID-19 pandemic rages in India, experts have suggested that the third wave of infections is likely to subside by March. While several states, including Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengal, have started recording a decline in their active caseloads, others are seeing a spurt in cases. India’s active COVID-19 tally has now fallen to 14.35 lakh.
According to a top official of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the third wave is likely to subside by the end of this month in some parts of the country.
According to a report in Times of India, quoting Dr Samiran Panda, Additional Director General, ICMR, the peak of cases reported in the states of Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengal will “reach the base level only by the end of this month”.
According to the estimates of the Sutra model (mathematical mapping of India’s COVID-19 curve), daily cases will fall below the 10,000 mark by the second week of March. Calculations presented by a mathematical model developed by ICMR and Imperial College London also suggest that India may reach endemicity by mid-March this year.
Dr Panda however notes that this is contingent on new variants of COVID-19 not disrupting the situation.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Friday that the third wave of the pandemic may be over by the second or third week of March. The official, citing daily case figures, said that the infection curve in major cities like Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Raigad even as cases dipped from around 48,000 per day (a few weeks ago) to around 15,000 at present.
Indian Council of Medical Research chief Dr Balram Bhargava said on Thursday that the third Covid wave in India saw a younger population in the form of patients with a low proportion of all symptoms and high levels of co-morbidities.
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and like us on Facebook for the latest updates and interesting stories.
