With necessary precautions, the third wave of COVID-19
may not take place – or anywhere at all – the government’s Principal Scientific
Advisor said to the Centre on Friday, noting further that the COVID-19 guidance,
for this, would need to be followed at both local and state levels, reported
news agency ANI.

“If we take strong measures, the third wave may not happen
in all the places or indeed anywhere at all. It depends much on how effectively
the guidance is implemented at the local level, in the states, in districts
& in the cities everywhere”, PSA Dr K Vijayraghavan was quoted by ANI as
saying.

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This, interestingly, contrasted from his comment the previous
day, when he had stated that a third wave of the infectious disease was ‘inevitable’.

“A phase three is inevitable, given the higher levels of
circulating virus but it is not clear on what time scale this phase three will
occur. We should prepare for new waves”, he had said on Thursday.

A significant proportion of COVID-19 cases in India at present
have stemmed from the ‘double mutant’ variant of the coronavirus.

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The northern part of India is being dominated by the UK
strain of the coronavirus, whereas two most affected urban centres in the country,
Maharashtra and Delhi, are suffering from the double mutant variant, according
to a PTI report.

India on Friday recorded a total of 4,14,188 new COVID-19
cases in the last 24 hours, alongside the daily death count rising by 3,915.

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Since the beginning of the outbreak in 2020, India has
reportedly recorded about 2.1 crore of COVID-19 cases in total, while currently
having 36 lakh active cases.