Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has warned the nation about the third wave of Covid-19 and that the wave may attack youths more than any other age group. While the battle against the second wave of Covid-19 is on such an apprehension by the Director of the premier medical institute in the country is frightening to say the least. Similar advice has been echoed by K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, "a phase three is inevitable, given the higher levels of circulating virus but it is not clear on what time scale this phase three will occur. We should prepare for new waves," he stressed. “Scientists of India and all over the world are working to anticipate these kinds of variants and act against them rapidly by early warning and developing modified tools. It's an intense research program, happening in India and abroad,” Raghavan added.
To prevent such a possibility, Dr. Guleria has suggested strict long-term lockdown, which in his opinion will help to break the Covid-19 chain more effectively than partial lockdown or night curfew. At the same time he has advised us to focus on three things, firstly, there should be proper facilities in Covid-19 hospitals; secondly, to prevent the spread of the virus, proactive approach should be taken and lastly, mass vaccination programme and adequate supply of Oxygen should be ensured.
No one should take the observations made by these two extremely eminent persons lightly. It clearly indicates that the battle against Covid-19 will not be over soon. Rather, it will be a prolonged battle which could last much longer than anticipated. At the same time, these observations also point out that we hurriedly declared victory over the lethal virus during the first wave. As soon as the death toll started coming down, we lowered our guard. We stopped wearing masks, said goodbye to social distancing and did not initially show any inclination for vaccination. The vaccination drive got momentum only after various dignitaries came forward and got their vaccinations. In a much similar manner, improvement of our healthcare facilities also stopped, hospitals did not store Oxygen and other medical equipment and medicines for emergency use. Random testing, which helped immensely in controlling the first wave also stopped. For showing a lacklustre attitude in the fight against Covid-19 states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh have had to pay a heavy price.
So, quite clearly there is no place for complacency whilst dealing with Covid-19, especially in the wake of the anticipated third wave. An indication regarding the possible severity of the third wave can be judged by the fact that during the first wave at the peak of coronavirus infection, a total of 6.3 million people had been infected, while the number of infected people is nearly 20 million in the ongoing second wave. So, every Indian needs to be vigilant in-order to prevent the predicted third wave from causing even further damage.