With mild rise in Covid cases, doctors prescribe caution till December

With Diwali festivities getting over, some States have started showing an uptick in new Covid cases. But medical experts find the new infections of less severity that do not require hospitalisation in most cases.

However, with holiday travellers returning to their States and with Christmas and New Year festivities approaching, doctors recommend caution for a few more weeks till December-end.

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“After the Dussehra and Diwali festivities, there is a mild surge (in new cases). But this can’t be generalised for the whole country. Some States are reporting mild increase in new cases, but the trend isn’t the same everywhere.

“Currently, it is too early to say how much and when the third wave surge will occur,” said Jayesh Lele, Secretary General, Indian Medical Association (IMA).

‘Take precautions’

However, as the festive sentiment continues with holiday travellers and Christmas and New Year approaching, Lele cautioned, saying: “This is the festive period across India. There are more relaxations now for businesses and travel. But we need to maintain precautions and be careful for this period of few weeks. We can’t allow precautions to be relaxed. That is the only way to keep a cap on new cases,” Lele told BusinessLine.

Notably, States such as Gujarat, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana have shown a marginal uptick in new cases in the past one month, specifically in the past fortnight from October 31.

Gujarat, for example, has also witnessed a return of micro-containment zones at two of the localities in Ahmedabad city as the cases jump from the usual trend. “The rise in new infections happen after the festive gatherings and travelling to other States where there is a higher rate of infection.

“People are now returning from holiday travels and we will see the impact of it in the next two to three weeks,” said Bhadresh Vyas of Jamnagar Medical College in Gujarat.

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Most of the new cases being reported have a travel history, and a majority of them were at least partially vaccinated.

“Most of these new cases are being treated at home. The severity of the infection has reduced and, therefore, mortality is not much noticed at present. However, the government is well prepared for the third wave with infrastructure for beds, medicines even for paediatric patients,” said Vyas, who is part of Gujarat’s Covid Task Force.

Hospitalisation

In other States, too, despite cases showing an uptick, there is no visible jump in hospitalisations. This, according to medical experts, is partially because of the acquired immunity through vaccinations and the immunity developed from the prior infection.

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