WAVES IN PANDEMIC

WAVES IN PANDEMIC

Subject: Science & tech

Context : Having failed to adequately prepare for the second wave of coronavirus infections, officials and health authorities are now routinely warning people of the possibility of a third wave.

Concept:

Waves in Pandemic

• There is no textbook definition of what constitutes a wave in an epidemic. The term is used generically to describe the rising and declining trends of infections over a prolonged period of time.
• The growth curve resembles the shape of a wave. Historically, the term wave used to refer to the seasonality of the disease. Several viral infections are seasonal in nature, and they recur after fixed time intervals.
• Infections rise and then come down, only to rise again after some time.
• Smaller regions within a country, a state or a city, for example, would have their own waves. Delhi, for example, has so far experienced four waves.