The third wave of the Covid pandemic has slowed down in India, and the number of fresh infections has plummeted drastically over the past couple of weeks. However, several medical experts had recently suggested that a possible fourth wave of the pandemic could hit the nation in the coming months.
Amid uncertainties surrounding the next wave of the pandemic, virologist Dr T Jacob John has claimed that the third wave of the pandemic has ended in India, and assured that a fourth wave will not happen unless a new variant of the virus enters the scene.
India enters the endemic phase
Jacob John revealed that Covid has entered the endemic phase in India.
"I say [entered endemic phase] since my own definition of an endemic state is 'low and steady daily numbers, with only minor fluctuations, if any, for at least four weeks'. My personal expectation, hence opinion, is that we will be in the endemic phase for more than four weeks. All states in India show the same trend, giving me this confidence," said John, as per PTI.
He added, "Unless an unexpected variant that behaves differently from alpha, beta, gamma, or Omicron comes, there would be no fourth wave."
IIT experts predict the fourth wave
A few days back, a team of experts at IIT Kanpur who successfully predicted the second and third wave of the pandemic in the country had predicted that the fourth wave of Covid will hit India in June.
According to these IIT experts, the fourth wave of the pandemic will begin in India on June 22 and will continue till October 24.
