NEW DELHI: An upward trend in new COVID-19 cases continued in India on Thursday, with the country recording more than 7,000 new cases in the last 24 hours noting which a top expert has warned that India is unlikely to experience the fourth wave unless a new COVID-19 variant is reported.
In an exclusive conversation with ANI on Thursday, Director of Internal Medicine, Max Healthcare, Dr Rommel Tickoo said, "India is unlikely to witness the fourth wave unless and until a new COVID-19 variant is reported that has different characteristics from the previous variants."
Dr Tickoo further said that people are travelling to various places and are back to normal due to which cases are rising. He said, "COVID-19 cases are rising likely due to an increase in tourism activities. A lot of people are travelling to places, going for holidays, vacations and things are almost getting back to normal. So, this surge is expected in quite a few states."
He also said that India is reaching endemicity and will not witness any major surge. "We have almost reached to the stage of endemicity in India due to which there will be no major surge in India," said Dr Tickoo.
Dr Tickoo further said that precautions need to be taken as long as the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic does not stop. "As long as the disease is mild and no complications are reported, like in the case of pneumonia earlier, we should not be worried. But, as I said earlier, this viral disease will stay here for some more time. We need to be extremely careful and take all precautions like to follow government guidelines and COVID-19 appropriate behaviour," added Dr Tickoo.
India reported 7,240 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, nearly 40 per cent higher than a day ago, as infections soared sharply in states like Maharashtra and Kerala. This is the highest jump in the number of daily cases since March 2. On Wednesday, India saw a rise of nearly 41 per cent in the daily COVID cases, as the country logged 5,233 infections.