Gennady Onishchenko: ‘2027 or 2028 should be a pandemic year’
Humanity has not yet recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, which ended almost two years ago
Last week, the number of hospitalisations with coronavirus increased in Russia. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Education Gennady Onishchenko said that the rise in cases would end in March. However, the coronavirus will not go away. Moreover, another virus may take its place. Read more about this in a report of Realnoe Vremya.
“The issue of a pandemic caused by virus X continues to be relevant. But don't worry”
“Last week, the World Health Organization made a whole statement that yes, the pandemic is over, but this does not mean that we should forget about COVID-19. There are some grounds for this. You can't completely agree with the WHO, which is hyping things up, but there is some truth in what they are worried about. But not the usual truth, but a scientific one,” said Gennady Onishchenko.
One of the points is the seasons of the year when the incidence peaks.
“COVID-19 claims that it does not behave like the flu: autumn has come — it begins to rise, spring has come — it falls. But the coronavirus remains at a certain level all year round. This still needs to be studied, where it came from,” the expert expressed concern.
It should be reminded that last year there were two increases in coronavirus cases, and both occurred in the warm season — May and August, “although without catastrophic figures.”
The academician recalled previous strains — omicron, “delta, etc.: “They called this poor COVID-19 all sorts of names. I even felt ashamed for the person, that he casually and rudely called the disease names.”
“WHO also says that coronavirus, being a background, can cause another epidemic. This makes sense. Despite the fact that almost two years have passed since the official end of the pandemic (editor’s note: WHO announced this in May 2023), we have not yet recovered in terms of population and some other virus can also enter this area,” warned Gennady Onishchenko. According to him, a pandemic comes every 9-10 years.
And he cited as an example the pandemic of the H1N1 flu virus in 2009 and the coronavirus pandemic in 2019. Moreover, in both cases, a high level of influenza incidence was recorded the day before.
“Somewhere in 2027 or 2028 there should be a pandemic. We do not know what strain it will be. The issue of a pandemic caused by virus X continues to be relevant. But don't worry. We will track everything down in time and save you," the academician reassured.
The number of new coronavirus cases is lower than the number of recovered patients
As for the current situation with coronavirus, in fact, 6,652 cases were identified from February 10 to 16. An increase in the incidence rate is observed in 21 regions of Russia. The number of hospitalizations also increased to 904 people, and all cases are severe. Over the week, 7,055 people recovered, or 15.7% less than on February 3-9.
“When will this end? I think in mid-March. There will be traces, but in all regions of our country they will already pass the natural peak of 7-9 weeks — from an increase to a plateau and further decline,” predicted Gennady Onishchenko.