How different will Covid's 3rd wave be from first two? What India government says
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
How different will Covid's 3rd wave be from first two? What India government says

Coronavirus chronicle

Hindustan Times
06 May, 2021, 09:15 am
Last modified: 06 May, 2021, 01:05 pm

Related News

  • India’s wheat supplies for food schemes will be tight, data show
  • India wheat export curb to be less explosive than prices suggest
  • Poor workers bear the brunt of India's heatwave
  • S Korea says it will spare no effort to help North Korea amid Covid outbreak
  • Kim Jong Un orders North Korea military to 'stabilise' drug supply amid Covid outbreak

How different will Covid's 3rd wave be from first two? What India government says

Given the high levels of circulating virus, the third wave of coronavirus is inevitable but the time scale is not clear, the government's principal scientific advisor K Vijay Raghavan said, explaining how the biology of the virus has changed between the first and the second wave

Hindustan Times
06 May, 2021, 09:15 am
Last modified: 06 May, 2021, 01:05 pm
A man runs past the burning funeral pyres of those who died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during a mass cremation, at a crematorium in New Delhi, India April 26, 2021. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC2P3N9SSDIW
A man runs past the burning funeral pyres of those who died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during a mass cremation, at a crematorium in New Delhi, India April 26, 2021. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC2P3N9SSDIW

Variants are only one factor of the huge second wave of the Covid-19 that is sweeping the country now, the government's principal scientific advisor K Vijay Raghavan said on Wednesday. As new variants of a virus are natural, the existing variants will make way for new variants which may or may not be more virulent, but variants should not make any difference in people's primary approach to combat Covid-19, which should consist of maintaining social distancing, the expert said. While in 2019 and 2020, the virus continued to be a generalist, like a key that can be fitted into many locks, the virus in 2021 became much fitter and efficient as it is trying a "hit and run lifestyle" to gain entry to the human body. In the coming days, the virus will become more efficient as immunity, vaccination are building adaptive pressure on the virus.

Here is what the government said about the various waves of the pandemic:

> The first wave halted as a combination of a standing level of immunity in the population and cautionary steps.

> The second wave started because new opportunities for the spread of the infection come up. When the guard drops, the immunity is sometimes not enough to stop the infection from spreading.

> Many people get infected until a new threshold of immunity is reached.

> Such a second wave is typically smaller than the first wave. Such a second wave was expected. However, multiple parameters can change in small amounts and add up to a second wave which is much larger than the first wave.

> Such a larger second wave with such ferocity was not predicted.

> Immunity, developed after the first wave, is not widespread. The number of people who remained unaffected because of cautionary steps taken in the first step may have been large. Immunity can also fade. Someone infected earlier can get reinfected but we know that the protection is still very high after eight months.

> In 2019, when the virus emerged, it was a generalist. It could infect many mammals and was not a tightly human-adaptive virus. The lineage continued for a long period. In the second phase, which started in October 2020, the virus became fitter. "It was a key that could fit many locks," the expert said adding that with the increase in the transmission, the key became more refined.

> In early 2021, a very large number of people all over the world had been infected. As the immunity increases, the virus does not have the opportunity to grow. But it sees that there are pockets it can go through and therefore there's selection through evolution for the viruses to be more efficient in transmission. In the second phase, efficiency has been selected because of already present immunity in the population. The virus will thus find new routes.

> A phase 3 is inevitable given the high levels of circulating virus, but the time scale is not yet clear.

> On immunity getting eroded by the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, experts said it is positioned somewhere between measles and influenza. Measles immunity never gets eroded while that for influenza gets depleted rapidly. The viral evolution of SARS-CoV-2 is somewhere in between but will change.

Top News / World+Biz

India / Coronavirus in India / COVID-19 / Coronavirus

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Are banks only gainers from dollar crisis?
    Are banks only gainers from dollar crisis?
  • PK Halder wants to return home
    PK Halder wants to return home
  • Exporters for continuation of 0.5% source tax for 5 years 
    Exporters for continuation of 0.5% source tax for 5 years 

MOST VIEWED

  • Customers wait in front of a restaurant in Beijing, China April 15, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Files
    China's economy skids as lockdowns hit factories, retailers
  • A medical worker in a protective suit collects a swab from a resident at a makeshift nucleic acid testing site inside a residential compound under lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China April 14, 2022. REUTERS/Xihao Jiang
    Shanghai aims for return to normal life from 1 June
  • South Korea's new President Yoon Suk-yeol signs a document as he works at the new Presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, May 10, 2022. Yonhap via REUTERS/File Photo
    S Korea says it will spare no effort to help North Korea amid Covid outbreak
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wears a face mask amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, while inspecting a pharmacy in Pyongyang, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 15, 2022. KCNA via REUTERS
    Kim Jong Un orders North Korea military to 'stabilise' drug supply amid Covid outbreak
  • North Korea reports 15 more suspected Covid-19 deaths
    North Korea reports 15 more suspected Covid-19 deaths
  • Residents line up for nucleic acid tests during lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China, May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Locked-down Shanghai to start gradually reopening malls, other businesses

Related News

  • India’s wheat supplies for food schemes will be tight, data show
  • India wheat export curb to be less explosive than prices suggest
  • Poor workers bear the brunt of India's heatwave
  • S Korea says it will spare no effort to help North Korea amid Covid outbreak
  • Kim Jong Un orders North Korea military to 'stabilise' drug supply amid Covid outbreak

Features

Bitcoin, by far the largest cryptocurrency, is a terrible substitute for government-issued money. Photo: Reuters

Crypto’s wild week offers a much-needed warning

11h | Panorama
Karst Stone Paper Journal: Write on indestructible stone paper

Karst Stone Paper Journal: Write on indestructible stone paper

12h | Brands
Pesky bugs do not stand a chance against this automatic indoor insect trap

Pesky bugs do not stand a chance against this automatic indoor insect trap

12h | Brands
Wazeenah: Turning furniture into a canvas

Wazeenah: Turning furniture into a canvas

12h | Brands

More Videos from TBS

Finland, Sweden decide to join NATO

Finland, Sweden decide to join NATO

3h | Videos
Where you can swim for Tk5

Where you can swim for Tk5

5h | Videos
Cultural activists pay tribute to Hassan Arif

Cultural activists pay tribute to Hassan Arif

8h | Videos
How PK Halder becomes a scamster

How PK Halder becomes a scamster

8h | Videos

Most Read

1
Representative Photo: Pixabay.
Bangladesh

Microplastics found in 5 local sugar brands

2
Mushfiq Mobarak. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Panorama

Meet the Yale professor who anchors his research in Bangladesh and scales up interventions globally

3
Impact of falling taka against US dollar
Banking

Taka losing more value as global currency market volatility persists

4
Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve
Economy

Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve

5
Union Capital asked to return Tk100cr FDR to BATBC 
Banking

Union Capital asked to return Tk100cr FDR to BATBC 

6
How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives
Bazaar

How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab