MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. The large-scale herd immunity research currently under way in Moscow will help Russia’s capital city to prepare for the second wave of the novel coronavirus infection, Head of the Moscow Department of Healthcare Alexei Khripun told reporters.

"This research will help medics, sanitary doctors and epidemiologists to prepare for the second way of infection," he said. "The knowledge of herd immunity will help in making important management decisions."

Earlier, Khripun said that about 50,000 Muscovites have been screened for novel coronavirus antibodies, but only 12.5% of them have immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies that can protect their carrier against the infection.

On May 15, Moscow launched a large-scale free novel coronavirus immunity testing program for citizens. Every few days, up to 70,000 people will be invited to take the test.