NALCHIK, September 20. /TASS/. The second wave of the coronavirus infection is not expected but a small increase in the case rate will probably occur in fall, chief non-staff infection disease specialist of the Russian Healthcare Ministry Vladimir Chulanov told TASS.
"We expect this will be a certain minor growth of the case rate, rather than the second wave. One should speak about the second wave when the first wave [ends] completely. We have only the sickness rate decline so far after the first wave - mainly in April of this year," the expert says.
It is proper to speak about "a certain seasonal growth of the case rate, Chulanov noted. "Most likely, we will not see [it]," the expert added.
The case rate in Russia will grow in September-October because of the seasonal factor and more active contacts of people, the specialist says. "The sickness rate growth is related to the start of the academic year, the business year, since new school teams, student and working teams start the buildup; many people returned from vacations. This leads to closer social contact and to a certain disease rate increase," Chulanov said, adding that this is not something ‘unusual.’
On August 11, Russia became the first country across the globe that registered a vaccine against the coronavirus infection, named Sputnik V. The third phase of vaccine’s clinical trials started, Russian Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko said on September 9.