Covid endemic, we've to plan how we live with it, says Gagandeep Kang

'Whether we are in the endemic stage depends on how we define endemicity. Covid-19 disease is in the population and would be in the population for a very long time', said Kang

India’s Covid case count and vaccination rates have remained low for a while. Have we reached an endemic stage, and has India achieved herd immunity? Gagandeep Kang, microbiologist and professor at Christian Medical College, Vellore, tells Sohini Das why she thinks there is no need for random testing and daily case counting anymore. Edited excerpts.

Some mathematical models have predicted a fourth wave of the pandemic around July-September. Where do we stand vis-à-vis such models?

On the question of Covid-19 and mathematical modelling to project the number of cases or the likelihood of waves in the future, I would like to highlight