Upon returning from abroad at the end of 2020, the Russian was found to have a “British” strain of coronavirus infection. This was announced on Sunday, January 10, by the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova on the air of the Russia-1 TV channel.
She clarified that since the end of November 2020, 32 people infected with the coronavirus have returned to Russia from the UK, one of them has a new strain.
“At the same time, the person felt and feels well, he did not have any symptoms. It no longer secretes this virus, ”Popova said.
The head of the department indicated that the PCR tests for COVID-19 available to Russian doctors successfully determine the new variety, and the vaccines registered in the country protect against infection with it. According to her, the “British” strain is no more dangerous than its predecessor and does not make the course of COVID-19 more severe.
However, Popova recalled that the new mutation is more infectious than the original version.
Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology of the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Vladimir Nikiforov, assessed the danger of the British strain. According to him, the detection in Russia of the first case of a new variant of this virus should not come as a shock, since it has no differences from the usual strain, except for a higher rate of spread
On January 7, the director of the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization (WHO) Hans Kluge said that the mutated strain of coronavirus was detected in 22 European countries. Later, the number of states where the new strain was discovered increased to 50.
He added that the new strain is spreading faster, but the disease itself goes away unchanged. The mutated variant occurs in people of different ages, children are not at high risk. The new strain could gradually supplant other variants of COVID-19, as has happened in the UK, Kluge said.
At the end of December 2020, the WHO representative in Russia Melita Vujnovich said that the spread of a new strain of coronavirus would not cause fundamental changes for the pandemic. She explained that a change in a virus is its normal manifestation: each virus changes during its evolution.
On December 14, UK Health Minister Matt Hancock announced that a new, mutated version of the coronavirus had been identified in the country. At that time, about 1,000 infections with the new strain were noted in the south of the country.
All relevant information on the situation with the coronavirus is available on the websites of stopcoronavirus.rf and access vsem.rf, as well as by the hashtag #WeVotte. Coronavirus hotline: 8 (800) 2000-112.