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Coronavirus pandemic

Another spring peak of COVID-19 epidemic in Russia is not likely, expert says

On Monday the number of daily detected cases of the coronavirus infection in the country for the first time since June surpassed 8,000

© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. The repeat of May peak incidence of the coronavirus infection in Russia is not likely, Vladimir Chulanov, chief non-resident expert on infectious diseases of the Russian Healthcare Ministry told TASS on Monday.

"I think that it is not likely," he said in response to a corresponding question. "In all likelihood, there will be a peak [of incidence] but we won’t have the spike which was observed, for example, in early May. Now we have the expected increase in incidence due to understandable reasons," he added.

On Monday the number of daily detected cases of the coronavirus infection in the country for the first time since June surpassed 8,000, while the infection spread coefficient, according to TASS calculations, was at the level recorded in early May.

"Currently an increase in incidence is being observed, <...> this is an expected phenomenon. In autumn, after the vacation period is over, the formation of new working groups, educational groups, groups of students there will be increased incidence, because the frequency of social contacts increases. Additionally, <...> in late September - early October a new epidemic season of respiratory infections will begin which <...> will also aid in a more intensive spread of the virus. So for some time the incidence will continue to grow," the expert explained.

The expert on infectious diseases noted that currently it is difficult to forecast for how long the incidence will continue to increase. According to him, in many ways this depends on citizens acting responsibly when observing the safety measures and the virus prevention including the mask regime, social distancing and other restrictions. "This is a very important moment. <...> Lately, it is obvious that both on transport and in public places people began to observe these rules more carelessly. <...> It is very difficult to say at this point when the incidence stabilizes, this is rather hard to forecast," he said.

"In my opinion, this growth is ordinary, it won’t reach the scale observed in April-May of this year. People definitely need to observe the safety precautions, the development of the epidemiologic situation in many ways depends on this," the expert concluded.

To date, 1,159,573 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 945,920 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 20,385 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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