No reason to hope COVID-19 will disappear, it will become seasonal — watchdog

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Coronavirus will become a seasonal infection, like the flu, there is no reason to hope that its circulation will stop, Head of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova said at the Gaidar Forum on Friday.

"Today there is no reason whatsoever to say that the circulation of that virus here will stop. We believe chances are high that the virus will remain with us, it will become a seasonal virus, and it will return to us during the epidemic season just like the flu virus does," she said.

According to Popova, it will be possible "to say that things got back to normal, we know everything and understand everything" only when it becomes clear that the virus became seasonal, and no one contracts the disease in the summer either in the northern or southern hemisphere. At the same time, the pandemic may last some more time, she added.

According to the latest statistics, over 93.1 million people have been infected worldwide, and about 2 million deaths have been reported. To date, 3,520,531 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 2,909,680 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 64,495 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

The Gaidar Forum in an annual international research and practical conference in the economic field that has been held since 2010. The event is co-organized by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, and the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia (AIRR). TASS is a general information partner of the forum.