After India’s COVID cases and deaths soared in April and May – the nation is bracing for a third wave

A major New Delhi’s Hospital and several others ran so short of oxygen that many patients in the capital suffocated to death during the outbreaks in the second quarter of 2021/

As the nation recovers slowly from its second wave of infections and many COVID patients are discharged from hospital – health experts have attributed the turnaround as ‘thanks to growing levels of immunity from natural infection and vaccinations’.

However the worst is yet to come, according to top medical experts

Hospitals have learned from a grim experience during the second wave, when funeral homes burned bodies non-stop and the deceased littered the banks of the holy Ganges river, too.

Now, the country is bracing for another possible surge in infections around its September-November festival season.

Hospital beds have been added at facilities around the country and hospitals are working to ensure ample supplies of oxygen.

Ganga Ram hospital is raising its oxygen storage capacity by 50 percent

The hospital laid a one-km-long pipeline carrying the gas directly to COVID-19 ICUs, and is installing equipment to keep the oxygen flow high.

It has also ordered an on-site oxygen-generation plant, which are mostly made in Europe and can take months to arrive given the surge in demand globally.

Could we see another new strain of COVID?

Almost all states in India are preparing special paediatric wards as some experts warn unvaccinated children could be vulnerable to any new virus mutations.

States including Madhya Pradesh are also stocking up on anti-viral drugs such as Remdesivir.

But with a government survey estimating as many as two-thirds of Indians already have COVID-fighting antibodies through natural infection, as well as 57 percent of its adults with at least an initial vaccine dose, many experts believe any new outbreak of infections could be much less devastating than the second wave.