Dr. Udovicic: This is a tsunami, the wave will last at least 2 more months. Many dead, young and old

"This wave of coronavirus is far more severe than all the previous ones. It hit us like a tsunami. We had the summer, we didn't use it properly. Instead of having a calmer fall, we have a high number of new cases, hospitalized and deceased people every day. And, whether we like it or not, sooner or later, we will all have to get vaccinated or get the virus, in which case those who are lucky will have a mild form of the disease," Dr. Ivo Udovicic, commander of the Karaburma Military Hospital, has told Telegraf.rs.

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We were in this hospital last in March. It has been in the Covid system since April 2020, when it received the first patients infected with coronavirus. At the time we hoped, considering that we had vaccines, that the fall will be calmer, that a new wave will start only in the second half of September and with a maximum of 2,000-3,000 new daily cases. But the situation is completely different.

"Unfortunately, we have been here for almost two years. Since April 6. More than 3,200 patients passed through this hospital, more than 400 through the Intensive Care Unit. There have been many dead, young and old. One thing is very difficult, very depressing, also for us, the staff who work here all the time. In March, when you were last here, we spoke about this, we hoped and had good indicators that we could welcome the fall differently, primarily because we had a cure for this virus, and it was starting to be used well. We had a good number of vaccinated people at first but when the summer came the vaccination rate decreased, and that epidemic wave also decreased. We really welcomed the summer in a peaceful situation and instead of using it to get vaccinated en masse and as quickly as possible because there was a small amount of the virus in circulation at that time, we completely relaxed, forgot about the epidemic, vacations and beaches were more important to us. We forgot that the virus didn't go anywhere, and we forgot the threat of a new strain, even though we knew about it. Unfortunately, the Delta came to us with tourists returning from other parts of the world," Dr. Udovicic recalled.

Given all this, we now have a strong new, fourth wave which started long before we expected, and what is worse is the mass infection.

"Instead of having a peaceful fall, instead of having reached collective immunity, whatever it may be like... We had a choice. The state provided all vaccines, they are absolutely effective and safe. They are the only cure for this epidemic. Like it or not, sooner or later, we will all have to either get vaccinated or get the virus, in which case those who are lucky will have a mild form of the disease. Unfortunately, a large number of people will end up in hospitals," Dr. Udovicic warned during his interview for Telegraf.rs.

Non-Covid patients left to their own devices

He reminded that at this moment, 70% of Serbia's (healthcare) capacity is in the Covid system, and that there is a large number of infected people in those institutions, between 6,500 and 7,500 are hospitalized across the country. On the other hand patients who are not Covid cases have had to find ways to get treatment for two years now.

"They can't go to state hospitals to the doctors and nurses who treated them before because they are now engaged in the Covid system. So, the rights of non-Covid patients have been usurped, the rights of us health workers, who have been working in the Covid system for almost two years, have been usurped, the right to treat our patients," our interlocutor reminds us.

He stressed that not even the doctors, from whom this answer is expect first, know how long this will last.

"The Delta strain has shown itself to be much more contagious, that it circulates much faster, that it is much more dangerous for children, pregnant women and women who have given birth, much more dangerous for the younger population. We are witnesses here. Unfortunately, we had two deaths of (previously) completely healthy young people in the last wave. The Delta strain is very dangerous. And what is realistically a danger is that the Delta will undergo changes, because it is allowed to circulate unhindered among the unvaccinated. Each of its evolutionary changes, each of its base changes in the spike means the appearance of new strains, new mutations. The most common changes occur in that S protein, in that spike, in the part that is responsible for binding to our antibody. Indeed, there is a real danger that these changes will be expressed in some future period and that the virus will be able to at some point to avoid our antibodies, and then we are back to square one," Dr. Udovicic warns, and points out that the situation is very difficult:

"I can say that this wave is far more difficult than all the previous ones. We have a much larger number of infected people. This now is not a wave now, this is a tsunami, which has been flooding us since the end of August and has been lasting with the same intensity and strength for two months, and will certainly last for as long."

Watch and read this evening the Telegraf.rs report from the red zone of the Karaburma Military Hospital and see what else Dr. Udovicic said, what kind of patients he fights for, how difficult their clinical picture is, what those who had been hospitalized are saying now.

(Telegraf.rs)