'End of second Covid-19 wave in India is still far away'

As the states across the country started to ease Covid-19 curbs with a dip in new cases, it suggested an end of the second wave. However, Niti Aayog member Dr V K Paul said on Friday that the current decline in the number of Covid-19 cases does not indicate the end of the second wave.

The health expert said that only when the number of daily new cases come down to 10,000 and it remains so for at least three weeks, the second wave can be considered to be over.

"Baseline would be 10,000 cases and when it is maintained for at least three weeks, then we can say that we have brought the situation under control," Dr V K Paul said, adding that the daily numbers currently are far from the baseline.

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India is currently reporting daily cases between 35,000 and 45,000, which he said is not a small number. He added that the number of cases currently look smaller because of the peak that the country experienced recently.

The peak of the second wave was around three times the present daily count.

The presence of the second wave is experienced in states like Maharashtra and Kerala. Kerala is currently accounting for almost one-third of the country’s total cases.

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"This shows that the country is not yet in the safe zone. This has happened earlier too that cases are localised at one point of time and then they suddenly explode," he said.

After a steady drop, the rate of decline in the number of cases has slowed down, he said and advised that the situation should not be taken lightly.