MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. Air links with Britain, where a new mutation of the novel coronavirus has been identified, have been suspended in order to ward off any potential risks involved, the chief of the consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said at a meeting of the presidium of the government’s anti-coronavirus coordination center.

"In the interests of the people the anti-virus task force made a decision to suspend air links with Britain for a week as a preventive measure. Although the air traffic between the two countries is small, we believe it is essential to minimize all risks," Popova said.

On December 14, Britain’s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, said British scientists had identified a new coronavirus strain that might be to blame for high infection rates in southeastern England. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told an urgent news conference on Saturday that according to the current findings the new strain might be 70% more contagious. He added that British experts had not yet found any proof that the mutated virus was fraught with a greater risk of lethal outcome.

According to the latest statistics, over 77.4 million people have been infected worldwide and more than 1.7 million deaths have been reported. To date, 2,906,503 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 2,319,520 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 51,912 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.