Experts urge India's richest state to gear up for third wave of COVID-19
Send a link to a friend
[June 18, 2021]
By Manas Mishra and Uday Sampath Kumar
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Health officials in
India's richest state have urged authorities to step up preparations
against a possible third wave of coronavirus infections, they said on
Friday, as lockdowns eased less than a month after a surge that killed
thousands.
India's second most populous state of Maharashtra lifted many curbs this
week in its cities, such as the financial capital of Mumbai, re-opening
malls, movie theatres and gyms at 50% capacity and freeing offices from
staff attendance limits.
"We should have a clear plan, and keep our preparations ready for the
next few weeks, whenever the next wave comes," Rahul Pandit, a member of
the state's COVID task force and a director of Fortis Hospitals Mumbai,
told Reuters.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/18/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png)
"Our efforts should be directed in delaying the wave as much as we can,
and even try to prevent it."
A Reuters poll of medical experts showed a third wave of infections is
likely to hit India by October, and although it will be better
controlled than the last outbreak, the pandemic will remain a public
health threat for at least another year.
Maharashtra, the epicentre of India's second wave, has yet to fully
emerge from it, Pandit added, after having gone into lockdown in early
April as the surge pushed sparse healthcare facilities to breaking
point.
As media broadcast images of large crowds in markets and streets, with
virtually no social distancing, India reported on Friday 62,480 new
infections over the past 24 hours, with deaths at a two-month low of
1,587.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/061821PIX/news_x43.jpg)
A patient suffering from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) rests inside
a classroom turned COVID-19 care facility on the outskirts of
Mumbai, India, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File Photo
![](../images/ads/current/centraldirect_lda_SPONSOR_2021.png)
But India, along with Brazil, is one of the countries
reporting the highest seven-day daily average of deaths.
Maharashtra, with 9,830 new infections overnight, accounts for about
a fifth of India's total of 29.76 million infections. Its death toll
stands at more than 116,000.
Crowds and traffic also filled streets in other cities, from the
capital of New Delhi to the southern tech hub of Bengaluru, though
experts cautioned that a race to resume business activities could
compromise vaccination efforts.
"The government on its part has to ramp up vaccination to reach a
target of 10 million jabs a day and also unleash a blitzkrieg about
the advantages of vaccination to overcome vaccine hesitancy," said
Harsh Mahajan, president of Nathealth, a grouping of private
healthcare providers.
Although India is the world's largest vaccine producer, it has
managed to inoculate only a little over 5% of all 950 million
eligible adults.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath and Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by
Clarence Fernandez)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/18/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png) |