RF restricts entry from Hong Kong and southern African countries | News from Germany about Russia | Dw

In connection with the discovery of a new variant of the coronavirus, Russia will restrict the entry of foreigners from Hong Kong, South Africa and other countries of southern Africa. “From 00 hours 00 minutes on November 28, 2021, to restrict the entry into the territory of Russia of foreign citizens residing in the territory of the Republic of South Africa, the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of Zimbabwe, the Republic of Mozambique, the Republic of Madagascar, the Kingdom of Eswatini, the United Republic of Tanzania , Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong “, – said the operational headquarters to combat the spread of coronavirus in Moscow on Friday, November 26.

The decision applies to citizens who have been in Hong Kong and southern Africa within the last 10 days, and was made in connection with the detection of the B.1.1.529 virus variant in them. “According to Rospotrebnadzor, a distinctive feature of this variant is that it has a large number of mutations in the S-protein gene, which can make it more infectious, and also affect the decrease in the effectiveness of antibodies,” the statement said. At the same time, the headquarters urged not to make premature conclusions and pointed to a thorough study of the situation.

In the Russian Federation, a new mutation has not yet been identified

In Russia, a new mutation has not yet been found, while in the Russian Federation tests are used that can identify this option, the operational headquarters noted. Meanwhile, citizens of the Russian Federation arriving from Hong Kong, South Africa and other countries of southern Africa, as well as China, Israel and the UK, will be obliged to undergo express testing for coronavirus.

Over the past day, 34,690 new coronavirus infections have been registered in Russia, thus the total number of infections in the Russian Federation has increased to 9,502,879, the operational headquarters said. The number of deaths from coronavirus, according to the headquarters, over the past day increased by 1,235 to 270,292. The information disseminated by the headquarters about deaths from coronavirus in Russia is much lower than other official Russian data on deaths from COVID-19.

A new variant of the coronavirus

Meanwhile, a new variant of coronavirus B.1.1.529, found in Africa and Hong Kong, has been identified for the first time in Europe. In Belgium, a traveler who returned from Egypt on November 11 tested positive. The EU plans to temporarily suspend flights to southern Africa. Flights to countries located in the south of the continent have already been suspended by Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic. The UK, Singapore and Israel have imposed travel restrictions on certain African countries.

Tluio de Oliveira, director of the South African Center for Innovation and Epidemic Response, said about 90% of new infections in the South African province of Gauteng are caused by a new variant of the virus found in South Africa and Botswana. Infection with variant B.1.1.529 was detected in Israel in a citizen of the country who returned from Malawi. The first patient infected with B.1.1.529 was found in Botswana and turned out to be a South African citizen. The largest number of people infected with the new variant are in South Africa – 77 people. Four more cases have been reported in Botswana and one in Hong Kong.

Research on variant B.1.1.529 is still in its early stages, but scientists have already established that it has 50 mutations. “This variant of the coronavirus surprised us a lot. We are actually talking about an evolutionary leap of the coronavirus. It has a whole set of mutations that we did not expect,” said virologist Tulio de Oliveira.

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