The second wave of the coronavirus can last up to three months, says IMA

The second wave of coronavirus can last up to three months, and such waves will continue to occur until 75% of the population is vaccinated and herd immunity is achieved. There is every need to curb its spread, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said.

In a letter to the state’s COVID envoy on Saturday, IMA President N. Subrahmanyam, President-elect C. Srinivasa Raju, and Secretary of State Nanda Kishore said the new mutated virus had the potential to skip immunity and even vaccine. It also hunts children.

New symptoms

Routine RT-PCR testing may not be able to detect the mutated virus. However, the loss of smell is a very strong indicator that a person is corona positive. Upset stomach, diarrhea, severe headache, and extreme fatigue are some of the new symptoms in this second wave.

Political meetings, election campaigns and religious communities, as well as callous and careless behavior by people, especially youth, are the main drivers of this second wave, the IMA officials said.

Behavior change

Behavior change is the most effective vaccine. The vaccines we give protect us not only now, but also from the third wave. Many countries had the third wave, they said.

The daily medical oxygen production capacity in our country is 7,000 tons and consumption is 4,000 tons.

Although there is enough production, the distribution is skewed, they said, urging the government to look into the matter.

They said they had been hoarding remdesivir and asked the government for an immediate response to make the injection available immediately by increasing production capacity. They also made efforts to properly test the samples, strengthen COVID infrastructure and human resources, and protect the frontline workforce and their family members through good health care.

They noted that the IMA had already worked with the government on their vaccination program and COVID containment. The “Test-Trace-Treat-Vaccinate” should be adhered to at all costs.

The public should remember that COVID-appropriate behavior (disinfecting, masking, and social distancing) is the mainstay of COVID containment, they said.

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