MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is not yet over, though it is visibly declining, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Russia Melita Vujnovic said on Monday.
"The second wave is not yet over, although it is well on the wane," she said in an interview with the Rpssiya-24 television channel. However, in her words, some countries are seeing upwards tendencies in incidence rates.
She stressed the importance of observing sanitary recommendations because the virus is spreading rapidly but herd immunity has not yet been developed. "It means that not enough people have immunity, so, regrettably, we cannot say that the pandemic is over. People should be careful and get vaccinated to boost this specific immunity which will help each one to combat the virus. When we reach some 75% (of vaccinated people - TASS), we will be able to say we can control the pandemic," she explained.
According to the latest statistics, over 114.1 million people have been infected worldwide and more than 2.5 million deaths have been reported.
To date, 4,257,650 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 3,823,074 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 86,455 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.