COVID-19 third wave peak likely between October-November; expected to be less infectious than second wave

New Delhi: Manindra Agrawal, an IIT-Kanpur scientist, has predicted that India may see a third wave of COVID-19 peaking between October and November if a more virulent mutant than the existing ones emerges by September. Agrawal, however, said that the intensity of the third wave is expected to be much lower than the second wave.

Agrawal, who is part of the three-member team of experts that have been tasked with predicting any surge in infections, said if no new virulent emerges, then the situation is unlikely to change.

If the third wave peaks, the country may see only 1 lakh daily cases as against more than 4 lakh when the deadly second wave was at its peak in May. The second wave killed thousands and infected several lakh.

"Status Quo is when no new mutant comes and New Variant is when 50% more infectious mutant comes by September. As one can see, the only scenario with some semblance of the third wave is New Variant one for epsilon = 1/33. In this scenario, new cases rise to ~1 lakh per day," Agrawal tweeted.

Last month, the model suggested that the third wave could peak between October and November and the daily cases could shoot between 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh every day if a more virulent mutant of SARS-CoV2 drives fresh infections.

However, no mutant that was more infectious than the Delta, which drove the infections during the third wave, emerged. Last week's forecast was the same, but only the range of daily cases has been brought down to 1-1.5 lakh in the latest one. With the fresh data, the daily infections are further expected to drop in the range of a lakh.

Agrawal said the fresh data comprising the vaccinations that have taken place in July and August, the sero-surveys that gave insights about the anti-bodies were factored in while assuming the scenarios.

According to a study by the researchers of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, the R or the Reproductive value of the coronavirus pandemic was 0.89. It is necessary that the R-value is under one that can help arrest the spread of infection.

Vaccination has been the biggest weapon worldwide to combat coronavirus and more than 63 crore doses have been administered in the country, according to the CoWIN dashboard.