Initially, it was assumed that the coronavirus pandemic would end in the summer of 2022, however, against the background of the accelerated process of mutation of the infection, it is impossible to say that the forecast will come true, the head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) Veronika Skvortsova said on the air of the Russia 24 TV channel.
“According to forecasts in 2020, the pandemic was supposed to end somewhere in July-August 2022. This is what was originally understood in 2020. But, since there is now an accelerated mutation and we see that each line acquires new properties, here, of course, it is impossible to unequivocally answer when and how, what will be the end of this epidemic, ”she said.
Discovered in early November this year in southern Africa, the omicron coronavirus strain Skvortsova described as “ambiguous.” This variant carries 32 mutations – more than all previously known strains. This makes it more infectious, while it causes a less severe course of COVID-19, said the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova. Skvortsova suggested that the omicron could contribute to ending the pandemic, among other things.
On December 22, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adanom Ghebreyesus said that the coronavirus pandemic could end in 2022. Earlier, Microsoft founder Bill Gates expressed this opinion.
The coronavirus pandemic began in December 2019 in the Chinese province of Wuhan. It is still unknown if this was due to natural causes or as a result of a virus leak from a local university laboratory. According to Johns Hopkins University, over the entire time COVID-19 has been confirmed in more than 286.5 million inhabitants of the planet. Of these, almost over 5.4 million people died as a result of the disease.
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