Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of Moscow State University Alexei Agranovsky said that animals could become the source of new, more aggressive variants of coronavirus infection. This is reported by Ura.ru.
“If from somewhere and expect new variants of an aggressive virus, it is more likely from animal reservoirs. This is unlikely to happen in the human population, ”the specialist noted.
The biologist clarified that the virus needs many carriers for the appearance of aggressive mutations. He noted that SARS-CoV-2, most likely, will not have enough infected to develop into a more severe form. Also, such a development of the situation can be prevented by a vaccine.
According to Agranovsky, mutations of the coronavirus unwanted for humans are possible, but unlikely due to the low rate of change of COVID-19.
Previously, scientists calculated the most pessimistic scenario for the spread of coronavirus in Russia. According to him, in a few months the number of infections will grow to hundreds of thousands per day. With such dynamics, by January 1, the mortality rate per day will be about four thousand deaths. A similar scenario is possible if all citizens do not wear masks, observe distancing and other protective measures. If the Russians follow all these recommendations, then by the beginning of 2021 the number of new infections per day will not exceed four thousand.