Writer Boris Akunin said that it is infected with coronavirus

The Russian writer and public figure Grigory Chkhartishvili, known under the pseudonym Boris Akunin, fell ill with a new type of coronavirus. He wrote about this on his Facebook page.

According to the writer, panic is worse than the Covid-19 itself. Since 2014, Chkhartishvili, known for his sharp statements and criticism of modern Russian authorities, has been living in France and Great Britain.

Coronavirus is very contagious, many people endure it without noticing - this can lead to the exponential growth of infected, and then, if the authorities miss the development of the epidemic - to a sharp increase in the number of severe patients. In a severe form of the course of the disease, the virus affects the lungs, patients need resuscitation equipment. When the number of patients greatly exceeds the possibilities of the healthcare system, doctors are not able to prevent many deaths, with a significant part of which they would have coped in another situation.

Therefore, one of the key measures to combat pandemia now - before the invention of a medicine or vaccine - is considered quarantine and other measures of "social distance" that prevent the transfer of the virus from humans to a person.

Coronavirus appeared at the end of last year, after the outbreak of the epidemic in China, the pandemic began, the infection spread around the world. In Europe, the most difficult situation is in Italy, now in Spain. Today, almost half a million people are infected in the world with a virus. The number of recovered is more than 177 thousand. More than 22 thousand patients died.

In Russia, where the epidemic, apparently, is in a more initial stage than in Europe, “social distance” measures are also taken. The meetings, the work of the places where people gather. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a week of weekends - although many criticized this idea , saying that this does not give people a clear signal about the need to refrain from any contacts.