New academic science projects are being launched in Russia due to the coronavirus pandemic. These include the establishment of a scientific centre for sociology and the psychology of emergencies and disasters as well as a model of coronavirus disease dynamics.
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Epidemic Patterns
The Russian Academy of Sciences has submitted to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education proposals for the implementation of a joint project “Modelling viral disease epidemics” with the State Atomiс Energy Corporation Rosatom.
Specialists from the Russian Federal Nuclear Centre (Zababakhin All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Technical Physics, VNIITF) have created a complex statistical model of the coronavirus disease dynamics, which showed good potential in assessing the results of the adopted restriction measures. This model covers both the diverse transmission mechanisms and the source of infection.
The project manager, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Georgy Rykovanov earlier compared the spread of epidemics with a chain reaction in a nuclear reactor. According to the experts, Russian scientific centres engaged in the development of nuclear weapons have historically had powerful mathematical and computing resources to model complex processes, including epidemics.
Epidemic Psychology
A scientific centre for sociology and psychology of emergencies and disasters will be established in Russia. The president of the Russian Academy of Sciences said that the Prime Minister had already supported this initiative. The centre will study the problems of society arising during epidemics and pandemics. It will be created as part of the new programme for priority actions aimed at economic recovery, which was launched in Russia on 1 June.
Alexander Chuchalin, Chairman of the Hospital Therapy Department at the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, has spoken about the urgent need to create such a centre since the urgency of psychological problems against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic will only increase.
A meta-analysis of 65 studies showed that among SARS, MERS and COVID-19 patients 32% had PTSD, 14.9% had depression and 15% had anxiety disorders. Russian psychologists argue that another wave of psychological trauma will be associated with the economic consequences of the pandemic.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
