INDIA is unlikely to see a COVID wave like the devastating second one unless there is a new immune escaping variant but the lower number of cases does not necessarily mean the pandemic is now endemic, several experts have said. Giving hope and also injecting a note of caution as the festive season peaks with Diwali just days ahead, they said a dipping COVID graph is only part of the picture and pointed to factors such as the mortality rate, the need for a larger vaccination cover and examples of countries such as UK where numbers are again rising. Lauding the milestone of 100 crore COVID vaccine doses in India, virologist Shahid Jameel said vaccination rates have improved significantly but more needs to be done.

 

“I am not sure we are in the endemic state yet… As we celebrate this (100 crore) landmark, there is still some distance to go. We are going towards endemicity, but are not there yet,” Jameel, a visiting professor at Ashoka University in Haryana, told PTI in an email interview. He also noted that daily confirmed COVID cases in India have been decreasing slowly over the past three months from about 40,000 per day to about 15,000 per day now. According to Union Health Ministry data on Saturday, there were 16,326 new COVID-19 cases, marking 29 straight days of a daily rise of less than 30,000. The death toll climbed to 4,53,708 with 666 fatalities. Jameel, one of India’s best known virologists, also pointed out that the mortality rate in the country remains steady at about 1.2 per cent.