Third wave of Covid-19 likely to strike the country in Sep-Oct: AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria

New Delhi: AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Thursday said the third wave is likely to strike the country in September-October as several states have lifted restrictions and people have started travelling from place to place.

Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, Dr Guleria said that with states gradually lifting the lockdown-like restrictions and people not following the COVID-19 protocols as it should be, the possibility of a third wave hitting the country is most likely in September-October.

Meanwhile, talking about predictions of several health experts that the possible third wave of COVID may disproportionately affect the children, the AIIMS director said that he “doesn’t think that children will have a severe infection in the coming wave or will be the ones most affected”. Dr Guleria said the latest serosurvey has found that children contracted the disease during the first and second wave but got away with mild infection. He further stressed that serosurvey and some other studies have also found that 50-60 per cent have developed anti-bodies.

The AIIMS director said that the Bharat Biotech vaccine and the Zydus Cadila vaccine for children may be available soon. Dr Guleria said as Zydus has completed its trials, it is most likely to be launched in September.

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has projected that the third wave is likely to hit India by the end of August and said that it isn’t inevitable.