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Decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases in Russia inspires hope — WHO

According to the WHO representative, vaccination against COVID-19, which is currently underway in Russia, will help reduce the number of patients with a severe form of the disease

MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. The decrease in the number of new coronavirus cases in Russia inspires hope, but it is too early to lower one’s guard, the World Health Organization’s representative to Russia, Melita Vujnovic, said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel on Wednesday.

"Of course, it is encouraging that one can see that there has been a constant decrease in the number of new cases in Russia over the past 20 days. So, we are on our way towards the decline, let’s put it that way, and we are controlling the epidemic. However, the number of cases is high, more than 20,000, so we should not lower our guard," she said.

According to Vujnovic, vaccination against COVID-19, which is currently underway in Russia, will help reduce the number of patients with a severe form of the disease. At the same time, it is not known yet how quickly it will be possible to prevent the transmission of the infection thanks to the vaccine. "So, we hope that vaccination, combined with anti-epidemic measures in Russia, will have a positive effect," she added.

The WHO representative highlighted the importance of compliance with sanitary requirements, such as wearing face masks and observing social distancing rules, since they prevent the spread of the disease. "Each newly infected person is an opportunity for a new mutation. If that occurs on a large-scale level, one can expect such mutations, which will have a negative impact. Either the behavior of the virus will just change or, possibly, it will even be able to influence the clinical picture of the disease," she explained.

Russia’s coronavirus cases grew by 21,152 in the past 24 hours, which is the lowest number since November 18. To date, 3,633,952 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 3,027,316 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 67,220 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.