Coronavirus is still in trend – Picture of the day – Kommersant

In Moscow, over the past day, the incidence of coronavirus has increased by 114% – from 3.9 thousand new patients to 8.4 thousand. The sixth wave is also rising in the country as a whole, reaching fifty thousand cases daily. According to some experts, the increase in the incidence may last until October. At the same time, hospitalization statistics show that the course of the disease is still relatively mild. Doctors attribute the current rise to traditional causes: the new properties of an ever-changing virus, the end of the holiday season and the arrival of cold weather along with other respiratory infections.

On Wednesday, the daily increase in new cases of coronavirus infection in Russia exceeded 47.9 thousand cases, which is almost 9.5 thousand more than the day before. Growth occurred mainly due to Moscow: according to the latest data from the portal “Stopcoronavirus.rf”, in the capital, 8.4 thousand people fell ill per day. And on Monday there were 3.9 thousand of them. Thus, the daily incidence of COVID-19 increased in the city by about 114%.

At the same time, the statistics of hospitalizations both in Moscow and in the country as a whole are encouraging.

Now the daily incidence rate correlates with the level of values ​​at the beginning of spring, when 40-50 thousand cases were detected. However, the number of hospitalized per day is less than at that time.

So, on March 12, more than 48 thousand new cases of coronavirus were recorded and almost 6.8 thousand people were sent to hospitals. And on September 7, with almost the same detection rate, 4,000 Russians needed inpatient treatment. Over the past 24 hours, 287 patients with coronavirus have been admitted to Moscow hospitals, and in early spring, with similar incidence rates, 800-900 patients with coronavirus were admitted to medical institutions daily.

Mortality from COVID-19 in September is also significantly lower than in March. During that period, more than 500-600 deaths per day were recorded, on Wednesday it became known about the death of 94 people, the day before it was reported about 95 deaths. However, it should be noted that in the spring the next wave of coronavirus descended, while now there is an increase.

According to the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova, St. Petersburg, the Moscow region and Moscow have already passed the peak values ​​of the sixth wave. Meanwhile, in 66 subjects, following the results of the past week, experts from the department record an increase in the incidence. According to virologist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Petr Chumakov, in large cities the decline will begin as early as mid-September, but there will be a “long tail” of incidence in remote Russian regions, due to which the wave of infection may last until October.

Anna Popova, however, recalled that the coronavirus is not going to go anywhere and is “looking for its place”.

“So far, there is no reason to assume that it will completely disappear. The history of epidemiology knows examples when various pathogens came, “noisy” and then left, and some remained. Therefore, the coronavirus is now looking for a place for itself in the season, changing some of its properties,” Ms. Popova said during the Eastern Economic Forum.

Tatyana Kogut, an infectious disease specialist at the Doctis telemedicine service, agrees that the virus “will be registered in the etiological structure of circulating respiratory infections.” According to her, its new variants (the BA.4 and BA.5 “omicron” sublineages now dominate) are characterized by higher contagiousness, which gives growth figures, but at the same time causes a relatively milder course of the disease. In addition, the infectious disease specialist continues, cold weather has set in, and coronaviruses “historically” became more active in winter. Olga Shuppo, scientific director of the Grand Clinic network of immunorehabilitation and preventive medicine clinics, notes another reason for the increase in the incidence: people have returned from vacations, mass congestion in educational institutions and enterprises has increased, and the seasonal viral load has also increased. This is not only about coronavirus infection, but also about SARS and influenza. “We observed a similar situation in the past couple of years. In autumn, the adaptive resources of the body are weakened. Decreased immune resistance. Therefore, many cannot cope with the increased viral load during this time. You need to train the immune system to increase the resistance of the immune system. Moreover, it is not recommended to be vaccinated with a weakened immune system, ”says Ms. Schuppo.

Note, according to information published on August 12, the level of herd immunity to COVID-19 in the Russian Federation was estimated at 7.4%.

Yan Vlasov, co-chairman of the All-Russian Union of Patients, draws attention to the fact that calls for vaccinations against coronavirus have begun to sound again, while “there are no more or less clear explanations about vaccination yet.”

“There is information that intranasal vaccines will soon be delivered and they will be available in the regions. At the same time, it is not known whether, for example, sanctions will be introduced to speed up the vaccination campaign,” says Mr. Vlasov.

“Kommersant” told, which is intranasal, that is, through the nose, vaccination against coronavirus is still being done only in the Kursk region. However, this is not a separate vaccine registered in April, but the traditional Sputnik V. The Ministry of Health explained that the drugs are identical, so in April, changes were made to the instructions for Sputnik V to allow intranasal use. To scale up the practice, the Ministry of Health suggested that regional authorities organize the purchase of nozzles for administering the vaccine through the nose. In the meantime, the subjects are sorted out with a nasal vaccine, Yan Vlasov recommends that Russians be vaccinated with an anti-influenza drug: “We have entered the off-season. At this time, as a rule, there is an increase in viral incidence, mainly due to SARS and influenza, which are activated during this period. We are at the very beginning of a normal off-season pandemic.”

Natalia Kostarnova