Rising Covid cases: Experts say cold-like symptoms indicate endemicity

The rise in Covid cases is indicative of the SARS-CoV-2 virus moving into an endemic state in India and behaving like other coronaviruses that cause common cold-like symptoms and can keep reinfecting, say scientists.

Giving the reassurance that a monster spike on the lines of the Delta wave in the spring of 2021 is unlikely due to the endemic nature of the virus, they also cautioned that the spread could be halted by following established protocols.

COVID-19 is effectively endemic in the country, and virtually all of us will have sustained an infection by now, whether we knew it or not. The virus is behaving like coronaviruses that cause common-cold-like symptoms and can keep reinfecting us, said Gautam I. Menon, dean (research) and professor, Departments of Physics and Biology at Haryana's Ashoka University.

Immunologist Satyajit Rath added that the actual magnitude of the infection is unknown.

Questioning the reliability of reported Covid case numbers, he told PTI, "We are likely