MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. The loss of immunity among those who recovered from COVID-19 during the first and second waves of the epidemic in Russia, as well as non-adherence to preventive measures and the unwillingness of the population to vaccinate themselves have led to a rise in COVID-19 cases in the country, Yevgeny Timakov, a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases and vaccinology, told TASS on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Russia’s federal anti-coronavirus crisis center documented 10,407 cases of COVID-19 in Russia, the highest figure since March 7.
"The May holidays should not have affected the rise of the infection rate in any way. Citizen awareness is what affects the case rate, along with the loss of immunity after the first and second waves, because people get infected for a second time, the unwillingness of citizens to vaccinate themselves and to protect themselves against the virus. The fact that the virus is mutating and that new changed strains are arriving in our country also affects the infection rate," he noted.
Timakov stressed that the epidemiological situation is not stabilizing. According to him, the third wave of COVID-19 started in Russia back in mid-April. "The case figures that we see are unreliable because no one wants to isolate themselves, everyone is putting it off until the last minute to go to the doctor. When they go to the doctor, their tests are not informative anymore, the virus is not detected in its active form <...>, and those who recovered with antibodies do not form part of the statistics, because it is compiled of PCR test results and hospitalizations," he stated.
Timakov also pointed out the rise in COVID-19 deaths. "In the fall, there were about 500-600 of them, and now there are about 400 deaths. However, in the fall, the case rate was three times higher than now, so the lethality rate has risen 2.5 times now," he concluded.