India may be entering an endemic stage of Covid-19: WHO chief scientist

WHO chief scientist, Dr. Soumya said that by the end of 2022 things would get back to normal.

According to WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan, India may be entering an endemic stage of Covid-19. Coronavirus cases were seen rising rapidly during the second wave of Covid-19 due to which the country witnessed numerous cases with no proper medical facilities and health infrastructure.

An endemic is the “constant presence and/or usual prevalence of a disease or infectious agent in a population within a geographic area,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States.

As per the statement, Swaminathan said that according to the size of India and heterogeneity of population and immunity status in different parts of the country, it is 'very very feasible' that the situation may continue like this with ups and downs in various parts of the nation. "We may be entering some kind of stage of endemicity where there is a low level of transmission or moderate level transmission going on but we are not seeing the kind of exponential growth and peak that we saw a few months ago." Adding more she said that she hoped by the end of 2022 "we would be in that position that we have achieved vaccine coverage 70% and then countries can get back to normal."

While talking about the unprecedented third wave of Covid-19 she mentioned that "no one has a crystal ball" and it's impossible to predict when the third wave will be upon us and if at all a third wave will come. However, you can make an educated guess on some of the variables that have an impact on transmission.