Declining Covid trajectory: Experts advise caution, bat for relaxing age-limit for precautionary doses

Talking to ETV Bharat, renowned pulmonologist and director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) Dr Anurag Agrawal said that the pandemic is in its terminal phase. "I think we can only say that the third wave, driven by Omicron, is in its terminal phase as there is no new variant on the horizon that is expected to lead to another wave in the immediate future," Dr Agrawal said.

New Delhi: As the country is registering a continuous decline in the Covid-19 trajectory, scientists and health experts across India have differences of opinion on the prevalence of the virus. Talking to ETV Bharat, renowned pulmonologist and director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) Dr Anurag Agrawal said that the pandemic is in its terminal phase. "I think we can only say that the third wave, driven by Omicron, is in its terminal phase as there is no new variant on the horizon that is expected to lead to another wave in the immediate future," Dr Agrawal said.

However, Dr Tamorish Kole, president of the Asian Society of Emergency Medicine said, "It is a fact that the number of Covid-19 cases in India has been decreasing but it will be wrong to think that the virus has gone far away from us. We need to maintain Covid appropriate behaviour at all levels." Dr Kole, however, emphasized that India's vaccination process need to further accelerate.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Wednesday said that the Covid19 pandemic in India is showing a sustained declining trend. "Government should also relax the eligibility criteria for the beneficiaries of precautionary dose as people between 40-60 years of age also need a precautionary dose," Dr Kole said.

Currently, the government has sanctioned precautionary doses for people above 60 years of age with comorbidities and health care workers as well as front line workers. The precautionary dose is administered after a gap of 39 weeks or nine months. As per health ministry statistics a total of 1,74,55,45,999 doses have been administered till date with 96,13,06,020 first dose, 76,67,65,531 second dose and 1,74,74,448 precaution doses.

Health Ministry statistics further show that since January 21, India has been witnessing a declining trend of Covid19 cases. In the last 24 hours, India registered 30,757 new cases of Covid19. Significantly, the trajectory of cases has been witnessing a declining trend since January 21 when a total of 3,47,254 cases were reported that came down to 67,084 on February 10 and 30,615 as on February 16.