Second national wave of infections unlikely, says expert

A recent surge in infections notwithstanding, India is unlikely to see a “second wave” in infections, according to Deputy Director at IIT, Kanpur, Manindra Agrawal, also one of India’s leading mathematicians and among those involved with the National ‘Super Model’ initiative, led by the Department of Science and Technology. As on Friday, India has confirmed a little over 11 million infections since March 2020 of which 1,52,895 were active ones. Prof. Agrawal told The Hindu that based on the model, this would at most rise to 11.3 or 11.5 million infections by April 2021 — or about 3,00,000-5,00,000 new confirmed infections over the next 10 weeks (approx).