Second wave not yet over, Delta plus may not be dangerous: NTAGI chief
Darpan News Desk IANS, 15 Jul, 2021 10:51 AM
New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) India is still witnessing the second wave which is not yet over as northeastern states and some parts of south India are still battling it, a member of the government's Covid expert panel said on Thursday.
Talking to IANS, Covid-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) Chairman N.K. Arora said: "Second wave is not yet over..."
He also contended that the Delta Plus variant is "not going to be that disturbing or harmful" while the Delta variant infection is still in some parts of the country.
Some experts suggest that there may be possible third wave at the end of August but it may not be as devastating as the second wave was during April to June.
Experts also stress that adherence to Covid protocols is mandatory to curb the infection and vaccination is an important tool to fight the pandemic.
The Indian Council of Medical Research's Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases Division head Samiran Panda has said that the vaccines available now largely are effective against the new variants, but the efficacy may differ for different strains.
Vaccines are not infection-preventing, but disease-modifying, he added.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday sparked a political controversy by referring to his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) counterpart Amit Shah as a "murder accused" during an election rally in Jabalpur.
A Kashmiri PhD scholar was arrested in a joint operation of the Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab Police from the Central University in Bathinda on Tuesday for alleged terror links, police said.
On a day when nominations for the May 19 Lok Sabha elections on 13 seats in Punjab begins, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that he is confident about delivering on his 'Mission 13' promise of winning all seats in the state.
