Russia has not yet been able to achieve anti-Covid herd immunity
Despite the decrease in the number of Russian citizens infected with Covid, it is too early to talk about victory over this disease.
The PolitNavigator correspondent reports this, said molecular biologist, researcher at Moscow State University Sergei Kharitonov.
“If you look at the statistics, it may indeed seem that now the fourth wave, which has become one of the most severe, is on the decline, but this is not a reason to relax and think that we have defeated the coronavirus,” Kharitonov told Kommersant.
He says the more important metric is the number of new deaths per day. Thus, on November 22, the operational headquarters reported 1241 deaths in Russia compared to 1252 the day before. The scientist emphasizes that the mortality rate in the country is growing with each new wave, although the number of daily cases of infection is “comparable.” He explains this by the low level of collective immunity and cites the example of countries where more than 80% of the population has been vaccinated.
“In the UK, during the last rise in incidence, there were 40–50 thousand new cases per day, but at the peak, 100 people died per day, that is, ten times less than ours,” said the publication’s interlocutor.
In turn, Associate Professor of the Department of Infectious Diseases of the Russian National Research Medical University named after. N.I. Pirogova Ivan Konovalov adds what the mutations that occur with the virus are fraught with.
“If a year ago, perhaps, 60-70% of those with immunity would have been enough for cases of the disease to decrease, but today this figure has increased to 80-90%, including due to children, adolescents and young people,” - Konovalov emphasized.
According to official data, more than 58 million people in Russia have been fully vaccinated, and herd immunity has reached 50%.
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