Russian Expert: "COVID-19 May Become a Seasonal Disease Like the Flu"

On the 18th (local time), medical staff are caring for patients in a temporary COVID-19 ward set up at the Krilatskoye Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia, which is on emergency alert due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] There is a prospect that the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) could become a seasonal disease like the flu.

On the 25th (local time), Georgy Ignatiev, Head of the General Virology Department at the Chumakov Immunobiological Preparations Center under the Russian Academy of Sciences, stated that the possibility of COVID-19 becoming a seasonal disease cannot be ruled out.

Head Ignatiev said, "If the (corona) virus actually mutates and such mutations continue, we will face a situation similar to the flu that comes every year," adding, "If coronavirus strains can create variants, we will have to get vaccinated against COVID-19 annually like the flu."

Earlier, Anna Popova, head of the Russian consumer rights protection and welfare supervision agency, which is responsible for health, hygiene, and quarantine, expressed a similar view the day before. She said that the coronavirus has a 'seasonality' that activates in winter and predicted that the epidemic will occur every cold season.