The COVID pandemic is not over yet and hence, people should not lower their guard, AIIMS Director, Dr Randeep Guleria, said on 6 October.

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Appearing in an information video series by the Health Ministry titled 'COVID Gurukool', he said that the second COVID surge still continues, with the country reporting many thousands of cases per day. "If we look at the global scenario, increasing cases are being reported in many parts of the world," he said, noting that the pandemic will eventually turn endemic in due course of time like many previous pandemics have.

"The COVID pandemic will turn into mere illness and will become part of our day to day life. The majority of people with immunity will have normal symptoms like cold, cough, fever, and flu-like symptoms. But elderly people with low immunity may get severe illness in the form of pneumonia requiring hospital admission," he said.

However, Dr Guleria warned that, at the current time, it is premature to say the pandemic has become endemic and we still need to be extremely cautious as we don't know how will the virus behave in coming times. "The virus may mutate and become more infectious, so we need to be very much cautious," he said.