Head of India's premier health institute warns of new COVID-19 wave

The third wave of COVID-19 in India was inevitable and could hit the country in the next six to eight weeks, Director of India's premier health institute All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, Dr. Randeep Guleria said Saturday.

Guleria made the comments in an interview with local television news channel NDTV, as local states governments are resorting to unlocking and easing COVID-19 restrictions.

According to Guleria, India's main challenge remains to vaccinate a huge population. "Unless we're vaccinated, we're vulnerable in the coming months."

Only about 5 percent of the Indian population has been vaccinated with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine so far, although the government aims to vaccinate the entire population by the end of this year.

"Third-wave is inevitable and it is basically based on human behaviour, " Dr. Guleria said.

"As we have started unlocking, there is again a lack of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. We don't seem to have learnt from what happened between the first and the second wave. Again crowds are building up. People are gathering. It will take some time for the number of cases to start rising at the national level," he said.

"It (third wave) could happen within the next six to eight weeks or maybe a little longer. It all depends on how we go ahead in terms of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and preventing crowds."

He suggested mini-lockdowns in any part of the country, which witnesses a surge and a rise in positivity rate beyond 5 percent.

"Apart from COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, we need to ensure strict surveillance ... We know the virus will continue to mutate. Aggressive surveillance in hotspots is required," the AIIMS chief said.

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 29,823,546 on Saturday, with 60,753 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours. This was the 12th consecutive day when less than 100,000 daily cases were registered across the country, after peaking to over 400,000 for several days in April and May. The death toll now stood at 385,137.

During the second wave of COVID-19, many states including the national capital witnessed public health difficulties and hospitals had to struggle for oxygen supplies and essential medicines.