According to an ICMR study, districts hit hard by the second wave may not see a strong third wave

New Delhi: According to a study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), regions that were badly hit by COVID-19’s second wave may not see an equally severe third wave. Experts from the apex medical organisation have urged states to conduct district-level heterogeneity assessments, which involve examining variances in spread and population in order to plan health interventions based on local conditions.

“Talking about a third wave across the entire state may not be helpful as all districts didn’t experience the second wave uniformly. We need district-level infection control and management programmes,” Times of India quoted Samiran Panda, senior epidemiologist and head of ICMR’s Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases Division as saying.

He asserted that states like Maharashtra, which was badly hit during the second wave, should look into district-level heterogeneity to formulate region and population appropriate responses.

Meanwhile, the Centre urged the states witnessing an upsurge in infections and positivity to consider strict restrictions to prevent or curtail people”s movement and crowding. It highlighted that has highlighted that 46 districts are showing more than 10 per cent positivity rate while another 53 are showing positivity between five and 10 per cent.

The Health Ministry said it was forcefully underlined that any laxity at this stage will result in the deterioration of the situation in these districts. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a high-level meeting on Saturday to review the COVID-19 situation in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur.

“All districts reporting positivity rate of more than 10 per cent in the last few weeks need to consider strict restrictions to prevent/curtail the movement of people, formation of crowds and intermingling of people to prevent the spread of infection.”