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.
A day after withdrawing the Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan, India on Saturday slapped a 200 per cent import duty on all goods originating or exported from Pakistan.
A pall of gloom combined with anger and patriotic fervour was witnessed across the country on Saturday as the tricolour-bedecked mortal remains of the CRPF troopers
Questioning why proper security arrangements "were not" made for movement of CRPF personnel in Pulwama, he said a permanent solution was needed to end the repeated killings of jawans.
The last rites of four CRPF troopers from Punjab, who were killed in Thursday's terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, were performed on Saturday as their remains were consigned to flames in their villages.
