Difficult to say when 3rd wave will come, we\'re better prepared: Expert committee

Bengaluru: Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman of COVID expert committee, Karnataka on Thursday said it is difficult to say when the third wave of COVID-19 will come and how severe it will be.

Speaking to ANI on the third wave of COVID-19, Dr Shetty said that our government, people, hospitals and doctors are much prepared as compared to the past.

"It is difficult to say when the third wave of COVID will come, how severe it'll be. I can say that our government is much better prepared now. People are much better prepared, hospitals and doctors much prepared to compare to what in the past. Also, a good number of health care professionals are immunized so they are not worried about their lives when they look at COVID patients," said Dr Shetty.

He said that Karnataka has specially created a cadre for managing children if they ever get infected while adding that "on the whole even it happens we are in a much better position to tackle it."

When asked how people are freely roaming around, he said if people behave in an irresponsible manner no government, no anti-biotic no vaccine can protect.

"People have to respect COVID appropriate behaviour like social distancing, wearing a mask. These are the things that will protect us. If people behave in an irresponsible manner no government, no anti-biotic no vaccine can protect them. So people have to take the responsibility," he said.

He further said that vaccine hesitancy to be addressed.

"The vaccines are coming and in the few months we will have an adequate number of vaccines but the greatest challenge is vaccine hesitancy, which needs to be addressed," added Dr Devi Shetty.

As many as 41,806 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in India in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said on Thursday, a slight rise from the previous day's count of 38,792 cases.