The new omicron coronavirus strain, according to preliminary data, is spreading three times faster than the delta variant, said Rinat Maksyutov, director of the Vector Center of Rospotrebnadzor. According to him, it is too early to say that the new strain causes a less severe course of the coronavirus. At the same time, the level of protection against the “omicron” among those who have had a previous illness, having become infected with other variants of the virus, will be lower.
“It can propagate almost three times faster to the delta variant. But these are preliminary estimates, “- said Mr. Maksyutov in an interview with Naila Asker-zade in the Vesti program on the Russia 1 TV channel (quoted by TASS). Rinat Maksyutov said that the omicron strain can seriously compete with the delta strain.
“We hope that the omicron variant causes a clinically less severe course of the disease, but today it is still premature to talk about this. If this is a relatively less dangerous option, it is still possible to increase the number of patients who will require hospitalization, the omicron option will infect more people, ”said the director of the Vector Center.
The level of protection against the new strain among those who had previously been ill, having contracted other variants of the virus, will be lower, said Mr. Maksyutov. “Developers of vaccines and drugs based on monoclonal antibodies in the world are forced to state a partial decrease in protection. Unfortunately, those who had previously been ill, for the most part, will no longer be able to count on the level of security to which we are accustomed in case of re-infection with the delta variant, ”said the director of the Vector Center.
According to Rinat Maksyutov, it is technically possible to withdraw the omicron artificially. “Technically, there is no contradiction to obtain a strain with a given set of mutations, but who might need it and why? I want to believe that no one in the world consciously conducts such work, ”said Mr. Maksyutov. He added that the Vector Center has already received more than 30 complete genomes of the new variant of the coronavirus.
The omicron coronavirus strain will become dominant in many European countries within a few weeks, said Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, on December 21. The WHO European Region includes Russia and other former Soviet republics, as well as Turkey.
In the middle of the month, WHO special representative for the fight against COVID-19, David Nabarro, said that omicron is spreading extremely quickly, the number of cases doubles every two to three days. Researchers at the University of Hong Kong said the omicron reproduces in the bronchi 70 times faster than the delta.
Read about the new strain in the publication of Kommersant FM “The behavior of the omicron raises questions.”
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