Record-breaking coronavirus morbidity worldwide: we won’t be able to live as long as possible

Coronavirus has not spread worldwide.

As the director of the Center for Communicable Diseases and AIDS (ULAC) prof. Saulius Čaplinskas, currently such a large number of new infections is related to countries that are still experiencing the peak of the virus or to those places where new outbreaks have reappeared.

“In some countries, the spread of the virus has stopped, in others it has not. All along, experts have said this virus will not go away. In the past, it has been clear that warm weather will not stop the spread of the virus unless to change people’s behavior, when people are more outdoors and keep longer distances. Well, and in those communities, in those countries where people live densely, when the virus gets there, its spread is very favorable for Unfortunately, it is natural, “said the professor. S. Čaplinskas.

According to the interlocutor, New Zealand has not had any newly diagnosed cases for 17 days and has lifted all restrictions. However, they should not forget that the virus can reappear at any time.

“Sometimes we baffle the second wave. Looking at what is happening now, you could probably say that the first wave was in China, and everywhere is the second or third wave that has taken place from China. And it continues to move, from China to Italy, then to other European countries, then to Lithuania, now he has traveled to Brazil, India and has reached all continents, said the professor.

– I have been saying for a long time that we will live a long time with this virus. On the one hand, we must learn to live normally, but on the other hand, we must be careful where it is needed. “

Both neighbors and foreign countries can pose a threat.

According to the ULAC director, Lithuania may not be threatened only by those countries where there are now many diseases, such as Brazil, India or Iran. It could also be our neighbor, who may be carrying the virus without knowing it, but if we become infected with it, we can have a serious form of the disease.

“We can get the same from neighboring countries, not necessarily from Russia or Belarus, but also from Latvia, Estonia or Poland. It is important not to be fooled and not to lose vigilance when going to public places, not to forget hand hygiene, thoroughly clean surfaces at work and at home. And you should still wear medical masks when going to closed spaces, which are visited by many people, “said the interlocutor.

Like before the coronavirus, we will no longer live, so we cannot relax in the same way we used to, according to the professor.

“However, we cannot live in quarantine and in closed conditions for life. New technologies, new diagnostic methods must be introduced as soon as possible to diagnose new infections as soon as possible. And again, if we create an atmosphere such that people are afraid to go to hospitals because of COVID-19 and do not receive medical attention, we will have more problems with other illnesses than with COVID-19. Not to mention the economic, psychological and social consequences, “said the professor. S. Čaplinskas.

The temperature is not affected

Daiva Razmuvienė, an epidemiologist at the National Center for Public Health (NVSC), said that one of the reasons why the number of new coronavirus infections has increased again is that we do not yet know about this infection and do not know much about it.

“I would like to know more about the virus, how it spreads, whether it spreads only through the air as droplets, or if there are other ways. Air temperature and humidity are not important to the virus. Even at this time of year, the virus does not relax and people continue to be infected, “said D. Razmuvienė.

Although the number of new infections is decreasing in Europe, it is increasing worldwide.

“There are certain eastern countries, as well as Lithuania, where the number of patients does not decrease after the end of the quarantine, although we would like it to be the same in early June. So, the things we don’t know about the virus allow it to continue spreading “said the interviewee.

Therefore, the spread of infection is highly influenced by our behavior. According to the epidemiologist NVSC, although the current temperature in both America and Latin America, Brazil is high enough, people live in close contact with each other, so the virus continues to spread very quickly.

“Since that first wave in Lithuania and Europe can be said to be more or less over, now may be the start of the second wave.” It is very difficult to predict and predict because we have no information on the spread of this virus for, for example, the last 5 years, as it is a completely new infection. Therefore, as the WHO reports, we must be vigilant and not relax, because we are seeing an increase in morbidity on a global scale.

We won’t be able to live like before for at least another year

This increase in new cases, according to the epidemiologist, may be due to two main reasons: the relaxed quarantine in many countries and the recent onset of morbidity in some countries, such as Brazil. There, morbidity rates rise sharply daily.

“If we calculate morbidity in those countries, the number of sick people is recorded hundreds of thousands every day for 9 days. However, the same is true in some nearby countries, such as Sweden, where the number of people with coronavirus for each 100,000 inhabitants in a 14-day period was 70.7 and increased to 96.2 per week, “said D. Razmuvienė.

Therefore, as long as there are no vaccines and medicines, we can only control the virus through our behavior.

“With the end of the quarantine, the virus will definitely not come out, there are no legal requirements for it.” If the quarantine has already ended, it does not mean that we have to relax, because at this moment we see that the family outbreaks are registered in Lithuania. People thought that everything came in the summer, holidays and viruses, as well as holidays. This is certainly not and will not be the case, we will still have to live in a surveillance regime this year and, I think, next year. Therefore, I don’t think we should really relax and organize family celebrations, which we can postpone for a later time, “said epidemiologist NVSC.

As D. Razmuvienė said, it is understandable that there are holidays that we cannot postpone, but in this case we should think of a smaller number of people, social distance, wearing masks.

“These things greatly affect the spread of the virus and we can really implement them, it doesn’t cost money,” said D. Razmuvienė.

If Lithuanians relax too much, can a similar situation occur in our country as in Iran or Sweden, when the wave of new infections started again?

“I think what you mentioned is very real. In Iran and other European countries, what is happening is due to some relaxation. For example, people become infected in nightclubs. We must understand that we cannot behave as we did in the summer of 2019 this summer. The virus is new and you need to stay alert. Doctors don’t talk like that to scare people. The coronavirus is between us and the present. Borders are opening and we cannot live in a closed neighborhood, we have to communicate with other countries, but again, everyone has to evaluate how to behave, either personally or in the family and only then make a final decision without forgetting that the risk of infection is in Lithuania. and in other countries, “said D. Razmuvienė.