We all know that the pandemic is not over yet and the third wave might come. But WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan says we may be soon entering the epidemic stage. The recent covid-19 data reveals that there is a decline in the number of cases and deaths but does this mean we are safe? The WHO scientist says that India might soon enter the endemic stage of Covid-19. and we must figure out how we are going to deal with the situation further.
What is endemic stage?
It is when people learn to live with the virus. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an endemic is the “constant presence of a disease or infectious agent in a population within a geographic area”.
WHO scientist says, “We may be entering some kind of stage of endemicity where there is low-level transmission or moderate level transmission going on but, we are not seeing the kinds of exponential growth and peaks that we saw a few months ago.”
With the current immunity status in India, ups and down in cases are going to remain constant. But we need to be careful.
When asked about the third wave she said: “ It will be impossible to predict when, where the third wave will be upon us and if at all a third wave will come. However, you can make an educated guess on some of the variables that have an impact on transmission”. She also said that we need not panic but stay prepared for it.
While speaking on the prevalence of Covid among children, Swaminathan asked parents to remain calm.
Meanwhile, India logged 37,593 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases increased marginally to 3,22,327, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
