COVID-19 third wave will come if we invite it: Government

Representational Image (Credits: PTI)

New Delhi: As the scare of a possible third wave of coronavirus spread in the country, Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary of Department of Biotechnology, Government of India on Monday (August 23, 2021) said that the third wave will come if "invited" by the human behaviour. 

"The virus` behaviour, we know, mutates. We don`t have control over that. The more it gets into a larger number of infections, there is more the transmission. Human behaviour is in our control, which involves adopting Covid-appropriate behaviour, i.e. maintaining hygiene, wearing a face mask, following social distancing," said Dr Swarup in an interview with ANI.

Over the past few weeks, many scientists and epidemiologists have had expressed concerns over the third wave of COVID-19 in the nation as more virulent variants of the coronavirus, like Delta Plus, circulate. 

"If we continue to do follow COVID-19 protocol and break the chain of transmission, we do not allow the virus to go from one host to the other," Dr Swarup added.

Additionally, the latest report by the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) warned of a third COVID-19 wave which could peak in October. The NIDM report was sent to the Prime Minister`s Office. But as per Dr Swarup the third wave is completely avoidable if COVID-appropriate behaviour is strictly followed by the individuals. 

"There is clearly the human behaviour will overtake the virus behaviour, and I think if we allow it to be controlled, no way is the third going to happen," said Dr Swarup. 

Meanwhile, the government on Monday also said that it has a pipeline of vaccines and the country's own mRNA candidate was likely to move into phase-3 trial soon. "We have a pipeline of vaccines - EUA (emergency-use approval) given for the DNA vaccine, our own MRNA candidate likely to move into phase-3 soon," Dr Renu Swarup added.

"We are now looking at developing a vaccine that can be pan-corona so that if any other virus comes in then the vaccine can respond to it," Dr Swarup said.

The country has so far administered nearly 58 crore doses of three Covid-19 vaccines - Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V. Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson`s was given emergency use approval in India for its single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, whereas Zydus Cadila was given a nod last week. 

(With ANI inputs)