New Delhi: After hovering for greater than three years, coronavirus is within the endemic stage, nevertheless, the viral load and emergence of any new variant nonetheless should be monitored, Dr Rakesh Mishra, director of Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS) stated.
Speaking to ANI, Dr Rakesh Mishra stated, “Corona is already in the endemic stage. The level of infection we saw recently from Bengaluru data was more significant than the third wave and would have had a big problem. However, it did not happen because of vaccination, or hybrid immunity. Clinically, the virus is more infectious, but clinically less harmful as it affects the body like the common cold.” Dr Mishra stated that wastewater surveillance was carried out in Bangalore which confirmed that there was already a wave however resulting from vaccination and hybrid immunity, the virus was clinically much less dangerous.
“Wastewater brings samples from all households as body fluids and excreted products end up in sewage plants. It looks like from Bangalore wastewater data that this year’s Covid-19 wave was bigger than the largest Covid-19 wave of January 2022. We got samples from 28 Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) covering the entire area in Bengaluru and we analysed them separately to monitor viral load. At the STP level we can predict the viral load,” Dr Mishra stated.
He additional stated that though the virus will not be going to be a significant challenge, nonetheless it must be monitored.
“Like any common thing, we are now used to this virus and that’s why the hospital load didn’t increase. It is clear from this surveillance that this wave is now over. We haven’t modelled anything that will happen. This virus is not going to be a major health issue. We still need to keep a watch on the Covid-19 virus through genome sequencing to monitor viral load & any new variant,” he stated.
Meanwhile, India has seen a dip in every day infections. The nation registered 1,839 contemporary infections within the final 24 hours, based on the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has introduced that the Covid-19 pandemic is over as a worldwide well being emergency.
