EPIDEMIOLOGIST and member of the Crisis Staff, Dr. Predrag Kon, says that we are entering a period of unfavorable epidemic events – winter, celebrations, celebrations, Catholic and Orthodox Christmas. However, as he says, he is optimistic that the number of newly infected will continue to fall.
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Predrag Kon, speaking in the RTS morning program, said that there are two reasons why the winter break for students should start earlier.
– Around the time of Catholic Christmas, our people who work in the west come to our country, there is an explosion of delta plus a strain of corona virus, which we have not yet determined to circulate here, but we think it is there, but it has no dominance – adds Kon.
Also, he states, in the second half of December, we expect the arrival of the flu virus, which is already present and proven in the region.
– It is probable that he is already with us, but he has not reached his potential. This is important because schools represent close to a million people who are indoors, if you add parents and grandparents, half of Serbia is in some way tied to schools, whether they work or not. That is the reason, it does not come out with a date, it must be fully agreed with the education. We had consultations with the Prime Minister and we clearly said that it would be desirable to be on December 20 and that it would be desirable to be then, it is also connected with the holiday, St. Nicholas is on Sunday, before that the holiday would begin, as far as I know, The 31st is planned, so it is about ten days earlier – Kon pointed out.
He emphasizes that this cannot be done without the Ministry of Education, so, he says, it matters what they determine.
– They should conclude the grades, the employees in education reacted immediately and rightly so. In that way, the possibility of what enters from the outside through the children is dispersed, and that is the reason, to prevent the flu, to delay it so that two waves do not come at the same time. Hopefully the flu will be less, we didn’t even detect it last year. As long as sars-kov-2 dominates, the flu will be suppressed and will not be so present – Kon points out.

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When it comes to the epidemic situation, Kon said that the number of newly infected people is declining this week as well.
– We had the past, it started around the beginning of that extended vacation, then the decline began to be clearly seen. The decline is expected to slow down next week, it can be seen today. This is so because of those two things, the covid pass and the extended vacation, which is now gone, we expect to see what happens. Whether it will stagnate at around 2,000 a day or start a slight increase, we will see, that cannot be predicted so far in advance – stated Kon.
He said that we are entering a period of unfavorable epidemic events – winter, celebrations, celebrations, Catholic, and then Orthodox Christmas.
– We have the opportunity to influence the natural flow with the holiday, we have time for the vaccine that should be used to the maximum, we don’t know what will happen with the virus, we can’t talk much in advance, but I am optimistic – said Kon.
(RTS)
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