Covid 3rd wave inevitable

Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned yesterday against overcrowding at tourist sites after the Indian Medical Association (IMA) warned that the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is "inevitable" and "imminent" and alerted the state governments against allowing potential "super-spreader" events. 

"With the global evidence available and the history of any pandemic, the third wave is inevitable and imminent," the medical association said in a press release.

The top doctors' body raised its specific concern over tourism activities, pilgrimages and other forms of mass congregations that have been permitted in several states amid the declining coronavirus second wave.

"I will say very emphatically that it is not OK to have huge crowds in hill stations, markets, without wearing masks," Modi said in comments posted on Twitter while acknowledging the tourism industry has been badly hit by lockdowns.

India's coronavirus caseload of 30.91 million infections is the world's second-highest behind the United States.

Its official tally of deaths is 410,784, many of them coming in a brutal second wave of infections in April and May when people died outside hospitals as they waited for beds and bodies were washing up on the banks of the holy Ganges river.

Yesterday, authorities reported 32,906 new cases - the lowest daily tally since mid-March - compared with some 400,000 a day at the height of the second wave.

The government last month launched a campaign to inoculate all adults, with a target of 950 million people by the end of the year, but the pace of the drive has faltered because of shortages of vaccines and various logistical hurdles, and only 8% of the target is fully vaccinated.

The Delta variant that is spreading in many countries was first detected in India where experts have recently identified what they believe is a new variant they have called Delta plus.

"To combat the third wave, we have to keep speeding up the process of vaccination," Modi said.

While new daily cases are at a three-month low, deaths have not fallen at the same pace. India reported 2,020 new Covid-19 deaths yesterday.

Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine deal

Meanwhile, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Serum Institute of India (SII) yesterday unveiled plans to start producing Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in India from September to help meet New Delhi's own needs in the first instance.

RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund, which promotes the vaccine globally, said the plan was to produce over 300 million doses of the vaccine per year in India, the leading production hub for Sputnik V.