MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. No significant rise in COVID-19 infection rate is expected in Russia in the spring, however, seasonal fluctuations of the daily case count are possible, Deputy Director of Russia’s Central Research Institute of Epidemiology Alexander Gorelov told TASS.

"It would be wrong to talk about the third wave of the coronavirus, as in epidemiology, a wave means that he infection rate drops to zero and then rises again. We have not reached zero so far, so it would be more correct to talk about a rise or a decrease of the coronavirus infection rate. Currently, we’re at the stage of decrease, and we do not expect a rise in the spring, although we do not rule out seasonal fluctuations in daily cases," he said.

Gorelov explained that the epidemiological situation would depend on Russians adhering to the preventive measures, namely mask use and social distancing, along with the vaccination. He also stressed that Russia would not approach zero figures until 60% of the population become immune to the virus.

Besides, the expert noted that this season, there have been practically no cases of flu, likely due to the successful vaccination campaign. "This year, an unprecedented number of people got vaccinated against the flu - 84 mln people. People were afraid of catching two infections at once and showed sensibility, affecting the epidemiological situation in this way. Let’s hope that people will be just as responsible when it comes to coronavirus vaccination," he concluded.

Since the start of the pandemic, over 112.1 mln people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, over 2.4 mln have died. Russia has documented 4,200,902 cases of COVID-19, 3,751,562 patients have recovered and 84,430 have died.