Coronavirus second wave imminent, but won't be as severe as first one: Experts

Bengaluru: The experts at Neuberg's Panel discussion on "Coronavirus – variants and vaccination" while not ruling out a second wave of Coronavirus, said it would not be as severe as the first one and fizzle off sooner.

Dr V Ramasubramanian, Infectious Diseases Specialist, Apollo Hospital, said, "US, UK, Brazil and a few other countries in Europe had second wave of coronavirus. It was inevitable. There is no reason why India would be exception to this rule. Probably the severity of second would be much milder, because about 60% of our population is younger. The second wave would be far milder than what UK and US are witnessing. We are seeing a surge in several states, but it will not be as severe as first one and would be shorter and fizzle out sooner."

Dr V. Ravi, former professor of Neurovirology at NIMHANS and Nodal Officer for genomic confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 Government of Karnataka, said, "If you are not infected or not vaccinated, then be sure that the virus will catch you. Sooner or later, the virus will catch most of us."

"When there is a huge surge, people behave responsibly. That's one reason why infection comes down. Whenever, there is a surge, there is continuous testing, tracking and tracing for containing the infection. Once the first wave subsided, the complacency has set in. Historically, it is true that any respiratory wave will have second wave. So, we will have second wave. But it will not be to the extent of the first wave."

Dr Saranya Narayan, Chief Microbiologist, Neuberg Diagnostics, said, "To certain extent, vaccination will help us in combating the second wave."