The incidence of coronavirus infection this spring, most likely, will not increase, but this cannot be ruled out. This opinion was expressed by interviewed experts.
In an interview with TASS, the chief researcher of the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology named after V.I. Gamalei Anatoly Altshtein notedthat the COVID-19 pandemic is undulating. In this regard, new variants of the virus appear, after which there is an increase in the incidence.
“The general trend is such that each next rise is already smaller than the previous one. The last rises were small. I think that there is no particular reason to expect that there will be a rise in the near future. Although this, of course, cannot be ruled out,” the specialist noted.
According to virologist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Lukashev, slight fluctuations in the incidence of COVID-19 are quite possible. He noted that scientists still do not fully understand all the factors that provoke seasonal rises in the incidence of SARS.
“In different years, in different regions, in different age groups, the seasonality of even the same virus can be slightly different. Therefore, there is most likely no such rule that there must be two waves or one wave. we expect an increase in the incidence in the spring, I see no reason,” he stressed.
Lukashev added that the dynamics of the incidence of coronavirus is determined by many factors, so it has become more difficult to predict it.
Virologists also recalled that the main rise in the incidence of COVID-19 was observed in February, and now there is a downward trend.
Former head of the WHO made an assumptionthat the COVID-19 pandemic will end in 2023 and the international emergency will be lifted. According to him, the world is currently “in a much better position than ever during a pandemic.” Russian infectious disease specialist also thinksthat the likelihood that the coronavirus will become a seasonal disease is high.
