The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will likely last until summer, Ancha Baranova, an associate professor at George Mason University's School of Systems Biology, told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2020) The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will likely last until summer, Ancha Baranova, an associate professor at George Mason University's school of Systems Biology, told Sputnik.
"In the US we were told to stay isolated for two weeks, but we are likely to remain under siege until summer, at the very least," Baranova said.
When asked under what conditions the pandemic will be over, the professor said that further developments would depend on two processes.
"One is the evolutionary process. We know that in a new host � and humans are new hosts for the virus � the virus weakens. We have seen it with other viruses, including coronaviruses ... The second process is the immunity acquisition by people, i.e., the process on natural vaccination," she explained.
Baranova noted that when it comes to COVID-19, Russia has an edge over other hotspots because it is behind most of Europe and the United States on the so-called viral Calendar � the time line of the spread of a virus from the first diagnosed case.
"Here [in Russia] the epidemic curve is delayed, and Russia lags behind the US by one or two weeks. No one wants to allow the development of the Italian scenario. Countries are trying to prevent this scenario from unfolding by stretching the epidemic in time," Baranova said.
Currently, multiple countries across the globe are initiating various strategies to cope with the spread of COVID-19, Baranova added.
"The first one, like [the one] in Mexico, is that they are not doing much of anything and are waiting for things to unfold. The second one, like in Europe, the US and Russia, is that they put everyone in quarantine, prolong the pandemic. Great Britain chose the third one, they calculated that they would not protect everyone .... they only quarantine the elderly, and this will save them from the virus," she said.
According to the last situation report by the World Health Organization, there are currently 191,127 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the globe, with the death toll standing at 7,807.
