Another wave of the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be weaker than the one in February thanks to herd immunity, Alexander Lukashev, virologist and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said on Thursday.
"Yes, another wave is quite possible," TASS cited him as saying.
He noted that Covid incidence growth is currently observed in several countries of Europe and North America, which had the Omicron strain wave earlier than Russia. "That is why, we can expect an incidence growth in several weeks. But, apparently, the growth will be much lower than in February because herd immunity is still quite high, although subsiding. And all the strains currently circulating in the world are derivatives from the Omicron variant, which caused the February wave. It means that they will be well neutralized by antibodies of those who had the infection in the winter," he said.
According to Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, a new coronavirus wave in Russia is possible in late May or in June, but much will depend on people’s behavior.
