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New Delhi: India’s second Covid-19 wave seems to have flattened but the climb down will be a more prolonged, long-drawn-out process than the first and will possibly run till July, says eminent virologist Shahid Jameel.

Though the new variants of the virus may partly be responsible for the explosion in the number of cases, there is no indication the mutant versions are more lethal, added the director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, amid mounting worries about what is fuelling the second wave in India.

Addressing an online event, Jameel noted that it is a little too early to say if the Covid wave has peaked.

“The curve may have flattened but the other side of the peak is not going to be an easy climb down. It’s possibly going to be a more prolonged long-drawn-out process running possibly till July, That means, even if the curve starts to decline, we will continue to have to deal with a large number of infections every day,” Jameel said.

According to the scientist, COVID-19 cases in the second wave won’t come down in as steady a fashion as they did after the first wave.

He said it is the people who gave the opportunity to the virus not to just spread but also to transmit quickly by not adhering to COVID-19 protocols.

The virologist also said India may possibly see many Covid waves depending on the conditions at that time and the progress of the vaccination drive.