MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. The considerable decrease in the mortality from the Omicron coronavirus strain and the gravity of the disease caused by it gives grounds for optimism, despite the dramatic incidence growth, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Alexander Sergeyev said on Sunday.
"Incidence is growing in Russia and in the entire world amid the decrease in mortality, and it means that milder forms of the disease prevail. It inspires optimism, because the coronavirus is becoming like seasonal infections, including acute respiratory viral diseases. And if we manage to reduce the number of serious cases to a minimum by means of vaccination, it will be an answer to the question about our further actions - it means that regular large-scale vaccination will be needed," he told TASS, adding that many of his colleagues and friends "have positive PCR tests but there are no serious cases among them."
"They have fever for a couple of days and that’s all. However, I wouldn’t say that this disease has no consequences. It is yet to be analyzed which traces Omicron may leave in the organism. At the same time, I see no grounds for panic," he said.
He noted however that "there are no guarantees" that immunity to other potential coronavirus strains would be developed after Omicron. "But so far, we see that the situation is much calmer now than it used to be," he added.
According to TASS calculations on the basis of the data from the national anti-coronavirus crisis center, the number of new coronavirus cases in Russia has nearly doubled in the past week compared with the previous week. At the same time, mortality continued to go down and hit minimal figures since June 2021.