MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/. The presence of coronavirus antibodies does not mean that a person cannot contract the disease again, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Russia Melita Vujnovic said in an interview with TASS on Thursday.”It absolutely does not mean that, even if the virus does not mutate,” she said, answering a corresponding question. “We do not know to what extent the antibodies developed during contact with the virus can protect us from infection in the future.”Vujnovic noted that it is important to wait for the outcomes of research. “Russia does a lot of research. It is important to accumulate knowledge about this virus to understand what is going on and how,” she said.In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus – named COVID-19 by the WHO – have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 3,200,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 228,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,000,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.To date, a total of 106,498 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 11,619 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 1,073 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.
