Epidemiologists called the consequences of the cancellation of pandemic status for coronavirus

The decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to cancel the pandemic status for COVID-19 is somewhat premature, since the course of this epidemic is undulating and new strains may appear, Anatoly Altshtein, professor of virology, chief researcher at the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, told RBC.

“The fact is that the course of this epidemic is undulating, the waves are associated with the emergence of new variants. The interval between waves is about four to six months. We are just now expiring this period, there is no doubt that a new option will appear, but we do not know how serious the next wave will be, ”the specialist explained.

In his opinion, the abolition of the status of a pandemic is a legal phenomenon associated with a decline in the incidence. WHO will be criticized for the premature cancellation of this status, the professor believes, since restrictive measures are practically removed in this way and diagnostics will worsen.

“But the epidemic continues - it will not be a pandemic, but the world is still covered, and about 70 thousand people, according to official figures, fall ill every day. Of course, they die much less than in the first months and years of the pandemic, ”Altshtein said, adding that a significant part of the population has been ill or vaccinated.

Larisa Popovich , Director of the Institute for Health Economics at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, believes that the abolition of pandemic status does not mean anything for Russia, since the incidence rate in the country has long been below the epidemic threshold, and restrictions have been lifted.

“And the announcement that the pandemic is over is just a summing up of the hysteria that was before. This means that no more emergency measures will be introduced in any of the countries,” the epidemiologist said. She noted that if the epidemic threshold is exceeded somewhere, then local epidemic measures will begin there.

Although the coronavirus has become a seasonal disease, masks continue to be worn in hospitals, but this is not related to COVID-19, Popovich said. “This is a common anti-epidemic regimen associated with a high incidence of other respiratory infections. They have not gone away, we still have a difficult situation with influenza, in late May - early June there are also outbreaks, ”she concluded.

The cancellation of pandemic status for COVID-19 was announced by WHO Director -General Tedros Ghebreyesus on May 5. He said that over the past year, the WHO emergency committee considered the issue and made a decision the day before. This does not mean that the coronavirus has ceased to pose a threat, “it still kills and still mutates,” Ghebreyesus stressed.

The situation with coronavirus received the status of a pandemic in March 2020. Since then, according to WHO, which in its calculations is based on official reports from the authorities of countries, a total of 765.2 million cases of coronavirus infection have been registered in the world. In Russia, according to the operational headquarters, more than 22 million people have been infected, and 398,000 people have died from covid since the beginning of the pandemic.