More 'mini' Covid-19 waves possible, says WHO chief scientist

Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in India and other countries, WHO Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan believes that it could be the beginning of a mini wave, according to a report from The Indian Express.

While the rise might be attributed to the sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5 of the Omicron variant, Soumya said that home-based testing could also undermine the actual numbers.

"The sub-variants that are emerging are more transmissible than the original Omicron BA.1 and there is a likelihood of waning immunity," the WHO chief Scientist told IE. "It is a possibility that there could be mini waves every four to six months or so and hence, apart from all Covid-appropriate precautionary measures that need to be taken, it is important to also track the variant. We need to keep a watch on hospital-based admissions and ensure that the vulnerable group who are 60 years and above get booster doses."

Also read: India reports 7,584 new Covid-19 cases, 24 more deaths

In a recent report on Africa, the WHO on June 2 suggested that the decline in new cases across the continent signalled that the fifth wave led by the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants had reached its peak. Referring to the same in South Africa, Soumya said that it was a relatively smaller wave.

"This is really whether one is considering a wave as a case or as an illness that results in hospitalisation," said a notable virologist from CMC, Vellore while speaking to IE. "In either case, what is clear is that what we are seeing now is most likely to be sub-variants of Omicron. They are capable of infecting people who have been previously infected but not necessarily causing the disease. Those at high risk of severe disease are the unvaccinated, aged people vaccinated a long time ago or people who have comorbidities and the vaccines have not worked on them. In general, if you are healthy and vaccinated, you may get infected but there is no need to panic or worry. We are likely to see more such waves and this is going to be the new pattern of the disease. Every time there is a variant or sub-variant, there will be an increase in cases."

Dr. Sanjay Pujari, ICMR’s Covid-19 task force technical expert, said that since the case surge was regional and concentrated in hotspots, it would be difficult to call it a pan-India wave. However, he emphasised that the spikes need to be observed thoroughly.

On June 8, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "More than 7,000 people lost their lives to the virus last week - that’s 7,000 too many. A new and even more dangerous variant could emerge at any time and vast numbers of people remain unprotected. The pandemic is not over and we will keep saying it’s not over until it is."