'When you are on these drugs, there is a possibility that you come to the hospital late, just by virtue of the fact that you believe that things are going to turn around, because you are on all these medicines.'

'You will still want to take all the necessary precautions, which is the right thing to do.'

'If we vaccinate quickly, it could be pushed to January, February, and the longer it can be pushed, the smaller the wave is likely to be, because by that time vaccination will scale up.'

'You have sufficient protection if you take the second dose of the Covishield vaccine at 12 weeks, because this vaccine works in a way where it provides protection in the first dose.'

'The vast majority of people are going to get better.' 'And the small fraction, who are not going to get better, unfortunately, there's no drug that we have that can that can alter the trajectory.'

'The reality of this virus is that as long as it is circulating, it can mutate into new variants and by the time you realise that this is a new virus, which is more dangerous, and more transmissible, it is too late.'

'Chances of getting the disease are not reduced, either after one dose or both doses of the vaccine.' 'And the probability of getting the infection -- you need to differentiate infection from disease -- by getting vaccinated is almost unaltered, be it single dose or two doses.' 'But your chances of developing moderate to severe disease, after getting infected, gets reduced with every dose you receive.'

'Unfortunately, during this pandemic, everybody started saying that well, these are desperate times and desperate times need desperate solutions.' 'Purely out of fear, anxiety, panic, this knowledge that people started acquiring from WhatsApp University and social media, it pushed science completely to the backseat.'

'The second wave was more virulent, more aggressive, more transmissible.'

'Where did this fungus suddenly come from and get all over the country?'

'I try to say to myself, 'Don't cry in front of people'. But sometimes I can't help it.'

'We can't rule out the fact that the virus might have changed in such a way that it's actually causing more harm to young people.'

'Mucor is an environmental fungus, and it's much more prevalent in hot and humid areas.' 'The amount of fungus in the air is much higher in India than some other parts of the world.'

'It is important for all of us to understand to have 1. COVID-19-appropriate behaviour, even after vaccination and 2. to try to increase the vaccination drive.'

'The problem is delaying (or missing) the second dose would probably keep you at a 20 per cent risk of still getting COVID-19, till you are fully immunised.'

'In the second wave, probably due to the mutants, probably due to COVID-19-inappropriate behaviour, we are seeing it coming in the younger population, say from ages 30 to 50.' 'Also, we've seen that sometimes they deteriorate pretty rapidly and therefore we may need to keep a closer watch on the symptoms and on the oxygen levels at home.'

'The only way to contain this is to see that a lesser number of people are affected.'

'Your family, your kith and kin are also under stress, some of your relatives will die, without getting appropriate treatment.'

'...of the non-availability of doctor expertise or appropriate treatment.' 'That's because of the nature of the disease at this point of time, it is very difficult to contain.'

'All the vaccines that are available in most countries, right now, are all highly effective and safe.'