This year’s winter season will result in a larger number of infections in Bosnia because there were many foreigners in the country, and the population had "mixed" with them in cafes and on mountains, professor Mirsada Hukic, a specialist in microbiology and a member of the European Academy of Sciences, warned speaking for N1 Thursday.

“We’re the only country in Europe that did not impose any barriers when entering the country, and this winter season probably helped the entry of a new [coronavirus] strain in BiH and it will certainly take revenge on us in the coming period. but I cannot blame it on the winter season alone, because new strains would certainly come because viruses know no borders, they spread, they have their own dynamics, but I think we will now have a more serious increase.

There were many foreigners, we mixed with them in cafes and on mountains and we will have to pay the price,” Hukic noted.

In her opinion, the new wave of the disease will end relatively quickly, by the end of the year after which people will have to learn to live with the virus.

“It’s obvious that new variants of the virus are being created, that do not fully recognize the immune response created to this variant of the virus, so just like for the seasonal group virus, we’ll have to get vaccinated every year and adjust our rhythm to such virus dynamics,” the scientist stated for N1.

She also noted that it is important to raise the collective (herd) immunity and, as she said, if nothing else, then at least on an annual level.

“Swine flu taught us this when the pandemic broke out. The disease was severe, but today it is the seasonal flu against which we get vaccinated and it is now a normal occurrence and that will be the case with this virus. We must raise our immunity in a way that it protects those who cannot be vaccinated or those who are immunologically compromised. To stop a pandemic, there must be collective immunity, there is no other way, and then we’ll have to invest more in science,” Hukic concluded.