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"Viruses are overtaking us." Belarusian infectious disease specialist reports whether new strains of COVID-19 will appear
02.11.2024 14:54
Today, the population is excessively afraid of the coronavirus, which is acquiring the characteristics of a seasonal infection.
This statement was made by the deputy chief physician of the Minsk City Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital, chief infectious disease specialist of the health committee of the capital's mayor's office, Svyatoslav Velgin.
Still, it seems to me that the population is now excessively afraid of COVID, given that they have survived this pandemic, Belta quotes the specialist as saying.
Pro-epidemic population
According to him, coronavirus is acquiring the characteristics of a seasonal infection. Today, the disease does not always require hospital treatment.
As for the “omicron” variants, the infectious disease specialist called them highly contagious.
He added that there is currently a natural spread of the epidemic among the population, which he considers a positive trend.
However, he also pointed out the fact that severe cases of diseases caused by COVID-19 are being recorded among citizens from risk groups.
But the specialist explains this not by the severity of the virus itself, but by concomitant diseases, including cancer, cardiology, and some other chronic diseases.
The deputy head physician noted that it is mainly bedridden patients and elderly people who can become seriously ill.
New strains
Regarding the emergence of new strains of coronavirus, Velgin predicted that they will arise periodically.
The specialist said that a big plus is that in Russia the “omicron” variant is included in the vaccine, since this increases the effectiveness of vaccination.
Viruses are ahead of us. For example, with flu, the composition of vaccines is revised annually. There is a whole network of WHO laboratories, and they know which strains are relevant around the world and based on this, 3-4 main genotypes are included in the composition of current vaccines. The same, I think, will happen for COVID, - said the infectious disease specialist.
