IIMS Director Randeep Guleria issued a warning saying if COVID-appropriate behaviour is not followed and crowding not prevented, then the third wave can strike the country in the next six to eight weeks.

Stressing on vaccination, he said that COVID-appropriate behaviour needs to be followed aggressively until a sizeable number of the population is inoculated.

Ruling out national-level lockdown, the AIIMS director said it could not be a solution and called for stricter surveillance and area-specific lockdowns in case of a significant surge.

‘No evidence to suggest that children will be infected more in the third wave’

Responding to the question if children will be infected more in the third wave, Guleria reiterated that till now, there is no such evidence.

This statement from the AIIMS director comes after Indian epidemiologists indicated that the third wave of COVID-19 is inevitable and is likely to begin from September-October.

The second wave of coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc in India in April and May, leading to several deaths with people running from pillar to post for oxygen cylinders, hospital beds and Remdesivir injections. 

However, the number of cases is coming down, with the positivity rate shrinking in the last several days.

‘Third wave can happen in six to eight weeks if…’

“If COVID-appropriate behaviour is not followed, the third wave can happen in six to eight weeks. We need to work aggressively to prevent another large wave till vaccination kicks in,” PTI quoted Guleria as saying.

He further said that if the positivity rate goes beyond 5 per cent, then area-specific lockdown and containment measures should be implemented.

India reported 60,753 new COVID-19 cases and 1,647 deaths over the past 24 hours.

According to a government statement, the total cases of COVID-19 in India have jumped to 29.82 million, with 385,137 deaths