Spring wave of coronavirus could become a national catastrophe – NAS

The National Academy of Sciences states that the spring wave of coronavirus in Ukraine could become a national catastrophe.

A doctor, Candidate of Biological Sciences Volodymyr Halytskyi from the Palladin Institute of Biochemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, announced this, the press service of the National Academy of Sciences reports.

According to him, currently, the coronavirus wave is characterized by "super-susceptibility and super-spreading," and numerous severe and fatal cases.

"Contact with a 'super-distributor' almost inevitably guarantees infection, and without personal protective equipment, such an encounter is dangerous by infecting the entire lung with immediate consequences," he said.

According to Halytskyi, the spring wave is higher and faster than the autumn one "and could become a national catastrophe."

He believes that vaccination can prevent the rapid development of coronavirus in the country.

"To disrupt the spring wave of incidence, it would be necessary to vaccinate about 50-70% of the population, but the rate of vaccination in our country, unfortunately, is very low," Halytskyi said.

The scientist clarifies that the spring wave of the epidemic will last until mid-May, and its peak will be in early April. At its peak, the daily number of new cases can reach 40,000.

It should be noted that in early March, Chief Sanitary Doctor Viktor Liashko officially confirmed the information that the first cases of infection with the "British" strain of coronavirus had been recorded in Ukraine. According to him, the mutation was detected in February.

Earlier, scientists said that the British strain of coronavirus in some cases had developed a mutation that could nullify the effectiveness of existing vaccines.