Second wave of coronavirus can last up to three months, says IMA

‘Loss of smell is a strong indicator that a person is positive’

College students shield themselves from the hot sun as they return home in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

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

In a letter to the State COVID Officer on Saturday, IMA president N. Subrahmanyam, president-elect C. Srinivasa Raju, and State secretary Nanda Kishore said that the new mutated virus has the potential to skip immunity and even vaccine. It is preying on children too.

New symptoms

Routine RT-PCR tests may not detect the mutated virus. However, loss of smell is a very strong indicator that a person is corona positive. Stomach upset, diarrhoea, severe headache and extreme fatigue are some of the new symptoms in this second wave.

Political meetings, election campaigns and religious congregations along with callous and careless behaviour of people, especially youngsters, are the main drivers of this second wave, the IMA office-bearers said.

Behaviour change

Behaviour change is the most effective vaccine. The vaccines that we’re administering will protect not only now but also protect us against the third wave. Many countries have had the third wave, they said.

Daily production capacity of medical oxygen in our country is 7,000 metric tonne and consumption is 4,000 metric tonne.

Though there is sufficient production, distribution is skewed, they said and urged the government to look into the issue.

They alleged that there was hoarding of Remdesivir and sought immediate response from the government to make the injection available immediately by enhancing production capacity. They also sought proper testing of samples, strengthening of COVID infra and human resources and, protection of frontline workforce and their family members by providing good health care.

They noted that IMA was already working in tandem with the government in its vaccination programme and COVID containment. The ‘test-trace-treat-vaccinate’ should be adhered to at any cost.

The public should not forget that COVID appropriate behaviour- (Sanitise, Mask and Social distance) is the mainstay of COVID containment, they said.