COVID-19 third wave to hit India soon? AIIMS doctor makes BIG claim

Amid looming threat of COVID-19 third wave hitting India, AIIMS Doctor and Epidemiologist Dr Sanjay K Rai has said that it is unlikely that COVID-19 third wave would hit India if a large population in the country as already been infected by coronavirus.

It is to be noted that few days ago the WHO had warned that a massive COVID-19 third wave would hit Europe and Central Asia soon. The WHO also expressed fear that tis region would register over 5,00,000 deaths (combined) by February 2022.

"When large populations get infected, massive waves of the virus are unlikely. Natural infections lead to natural immunity which leads to a decline in the number of cases. Vaccinations also reduce disease severity and deaths. It will happen in Russia and Central Asia. A wave of infections is going on there, but this will reduce by February. This happened everywhere, including in India. A large amount of the population was infected, then cases started to decline rapidly. Whenever the cases rise rapidly, they decline quickly too," Dr Rai was quoted as saying by Livemint.

Dr Rai, however, noted that the regions could record 5,00,000 deaths by February and even vaccinations would fail to halt the rising deaths suddenly. Dr Rai added that that WHO was losing its credibility now.

"It has been giving controversial statements. It has not been able to figure out the origins of COVID-19. It took them over 1.5 years to understand that natural infections are giving protection to the people but they are still not giving much weightage to it," he said.