Virologist Dr. Ana Gligic: There won't be another wave, coronavirus will go away, but then reappear

Printscreen: TV Prva

Coronavirus has so far claimed more than 700 lives in Serbia, while officially, about 32,000 people have been infected. The epidemiological situation is now more stable, but doctors are warning that it is important for citizens to respect all preventive measures in order to stop a new increase in the number of cases.

Recommended

Well-known virologist Dr. Ana Gligic, who was the head of the laboratory at the Torlak Institute during a smallpox outbreak (in the early 70s), has told the daily Politika that after all, we will not have another wave of the coronavirus epidemic, but only peaks, and stressed that Covid-19 has shown that some the rules that apply to similar infections do not apply to it at all.

"We won't get rid of it so easily. There are only two options: either here will be herd immunity or a vaccine, in order to reduce it to the minimum possible degree," Dr. Gligic thinks.

When asked when the second wave is expected to appear, she said that there will be none.

"There will only be peaks. Such viruses occur epidemically every four to seven years. First, the epidemic of Covid-19 in circulation must be extinguished, and only then can another wave appear after a few years. Coronavirus will not stay in this form it has now form forever, it will go away. And then it will reappear. We don't know whether it will be of epidemic or pandemic character then," she said.

She added that this virus constantly surprises us, which is why everything is unpredictable.

"As soon as Covid-19 appeared, I said, 'It will stay because it was created and survived in nature'. When you 'mess' with nature it's like you've upset the hornet's nest. The virus woke up and we can hardly get rid of it. Those who advocate the thesis that it will disappear must know that this can only happen if something happens in nature, without our influence. What we are doing is just repairing the consequences that it has caused. Coronavirus is not from yesterday. It's been around, there somewhere, for a long time. But it gained these proportions due to the influence of the external environment. Suddenly, something we didn't pay attention to went wild. I wonder about many things, but projects must be done in order to explain everything with certainty," said the virologist.

She stressed that this is a natural hotbed of viral infection, but she distanced herself from the thesis that the virus originated in China.

"The question is whether all this came from China. There are theories that it originated in a laboratory from which it was intentionally 'released' or whic it 'escaped'. I don't agree with that, although such a possibility exists. I only believe the evidence. A scientist who would prove something like that would probably win the Nobel Prize," Dr. Ana pointed out.

Protection - flu vaccine

The doctor stressed that it is extremely important to receive the flu vaccine.

"Be sure to get the flu vaccine. This is important because a person can be attacked by both the flu and coronavirus at the same time. It's terrible if two infections are found in the same organism. In particular, the elderly will not be able to withstand that," she warned.

She pointed out that there have been cases when people respected all the measures and protected themselves, and still got infected with coronavirus.

"People did not communicate with anyone, they did not leave the house, nor did anyone come to see them, yet they became infected with Covid-19. We can link that with the thesis that I presented in March, that coronavirus is transmitted by air," concluded Dr. Gligic.

(Telegraf.rs)