The World Health Organization this week has set the alarm bells ringing as it said that the world is at the very advanced stages of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The third wave is mostly being driven by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 which was first reported in India.

According to a hindustantimes.com report, this warning is a red flag for India as well, said the Union health ministry this week as the fall in the Covid-19 cases in India has slowed down. In India, the Covid-19 situation remains worrisome in some pockets, including some districts in Maharashtra, Kerala and the northeast.

But the question is – Has the third wave in India already set in? Niti Aayog member (health) VK Paul on Friday said the recent slow decline in number of daily cases is a warning and though the situation is currently under control, it can deteriorate if Covid appropriate behaviour is not followed, and noted that the next 100-125 days are critical, both for the system and people.

According to the hindustantimes.com report, the University of Hyderabad pro-vice-chancellor physicist Dr Vipin Srivastava has recently said that the third wave in India has already arrived on July 4. He said July 4 recorded a similar trend like what the first week of February (the beginning of the 2nd wave) saw.

On the other hand, Dr Samiran Panda, Head of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research said that the third wave of Covid-19 is likely to hit India at the end of August and chances are that it will not be as intense as the second wave.

The hindustantimes.com report also states that UBS Securities India has said the risks of a third wave look real because of the increased presence of the Delta variant and the pace of vaccination. SBI Research in its report prepared early this month said India may witness the third wave of the pandemic by the second fortnight of August.

Dr Devi Shetty, chairman of the Karnataka Covid expert committee, said it is difficult to predict the timing and the severity of a third wave, reports hindustantimes.com. "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.

AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria has said that there are many possibilities in which the third wave if it comes, may shape up. If an immuno-escape variant of the virus emerges and all restrictions are eased, then the third wave can be more severe than the second wave. Waning immunity, the emergence of a more transmissible variant, and lockdown relaxations will decide the third wave, Dr Guleria said.

At the beginning of this month, a group of IIT scientists project three scenarios in which the situation could go back to normal by August, could continue as it is or could worsen. Last month, Reuters conducted a poll and predicted that the third wave in India will come by October.