Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said on Tuesday that there is no evidence, either in India or worldwide, that children would be gravely affected in subsequent waves of the covid-19 epidemic.
Guleria noted that 60 percent to 70 percent of children who were infected and hospitalized to hospitals during the second covid-19 wave in India had comorbidities or inadequate immunity, whereas healthy children recovered with minor sickness without the need for hospitalization.
The announcement comes as many hospitals throughout the nation prepare to open covid-19 pediatrics wards. The state government of Andhra Pradesh has planned to establish pediatric care centers in Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, and Krishna-Guntur areas in response to the potential of a third wave reaching the country, which experts believe will disproportionately harm children.
Similarly, the Telangana State Health Department is preparing for a possible third wave of the Corona epidemic and has chosen to add 6,000 beds to government hospitals and purchase medical equipment and drugs to treat children stricken by the disease.
Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, said on Monday that it will collaborate with the non-profit Doctors For You to assist build Oxygen Bed capacity at Delhi’s Yamuna COVID Care Centre. With numerous experts predicting that the third wave will impact youngsters, around 10% of beds have been set aside to fulfill the needs of covid-19 pediatric patients.
Disease waves generally occur in pandemics produced by respiratory viruses, according to the AIIMS New Delhi Director, who cited the 1918 Spanish Flu and H1N1 (swine) flu as examples.
Whenever cases increase, there is a fear in people, and human behavior changes. People strictly follow COVID Appropriate behaviors and non-pharmaceutical interventions help break the chain of transmission. But when unlocking resumes, people tend to think that not much infection will happen and tend to not follow COVID appropriate behavior. Due to this, the virus again starts spreading in the community, leading potentially to another wave,” Guleria said.
“If we have to stop subsequent waves, we need to aggressively follow COVID appropriate behavior until we can say that a significant number of our population is vaccinated or has acquired natural immunity. “When enough people are vaccinated or when we acquire natural immunity against the infection, then these waves will stop, he said adding that the only way out is to strictly follow COVID appropriate behavior, he added.
Meanwhile, after 63 days, India has recorded less than 1 lakh daily new covid-19 cases in the previous 24 hours. According to data from the union health ministry, there were at least 86,498 new cases registered in the previous 24 hours, the lowest in 66 days. The testing capacity has been significantly increased, with a total of 36.8 crore tests completed. According to the government, almost 24 crores covid-19 vaccine doses have been provided thus far as part of the Nationwide Vaccination Drive.
