Dr. Tiodorovic on flattening the curve: This will last until Dec. 20 with several minor peaks

Photo: Tanjug/Serbian government/Slobodan Miljevic

"I said 14-15 days ago that we will have this spike and that we will have more infected and even dead people. This will last until December 20, maybe a few days longer, but I believe that we will enter December when the situation will be a little more stable, while we will have more smaller peaks in that period," Dr. Branislav Tiodorovic said this morning.

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The climate in December, he added, will affect the fluctuation around the virus, so there will be an oscillation in the number of infected people.

"We will have results seven to ten days from the start of applying (new) measures," this epidemiologist and member of the Crisis HQ said this morning.

He announced that we do not expect the curve to flatten by the end of the month, but can instead expect even more infected people, while the curve could flatten only at the beginning of December.

"It will certainly be difficult, especially if we take into account the conditions - it will be a cold winter with high humidity, which all suits the virus. However, I think that not everything will be so dark, maybe I'm an optimist, but I hope that if the measures are respected and with a vaccine, we will reach a solution," said Tiodorovic.

Vaccine around New Year

The epidemiologist also gave his prediction about when it is possible to expect a vaccine against coronavirus.

"There is a great demand for a vaccine. I think a realistic time for it to arrive is after the New Year, in January or February," says Dr. Tiodorovic.

Asked what will happen with the winter break, because according to yesterday's government session, students will return to school, Dr. Tiodorovic said that nothing concrete is known about that yet.

"We need to see what to do with the winter break. Are we going to move it. The situation in primary schools is good, high schools have dropped out of it a bit. We will see there whether the situation will be good, if not, then we will switch to online classes in high schools," said Tiodorovic.

He also stressed that young people are currently the biggest carriers of the virus, but that they should be spoken to differently and that more effort should be made to educate them about coronavirus.

"We must work a little differently with young people, talk to psychologists, communication specialists... We have to have a different approach to younger people, we should not scare them either, but educate them about coronavirus," Tiodorovic explained.

When asked what is gained by shortening the opening hours of businesses by two hours - a decision made yesterday - Dr. Tiodorovic explained that this means balancing the economy with health.

"I must mention that we were really good for a while and that we were in the top three (countries) in terms of having the least number of infected people and deaths. We are good now, too, now we are in fifth place. I think that we've learned a lot and regardless of the criticism, I think that the system reacted well and that there is elasticity in the reaction. I must also say that the majority of the population respects the measures, but the minority who believe this is all a conspiracy theory is still circulating and can spread the virus. In the end, it's not a matter of democracy but of civilization," said the epidemiologist.

(Telegraf.rs)