MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. The latest variant of the novel coronavirus, Omicron is spreading 2-4 times faster than Delta, and with a high degree of probability it will phase out its predecessor soon, the Health Ministry’s chief infection disease specialist, Vladimir Chulanov said on Wednesday.
"Any strain capable of spreading faster than the others - and Omicron certainly possesses such a quality (it is spreading 2-4 times faster than Delta) will unequivocally phase out its predecessor after some time. In any case, this probability is very high," Chulanov said on Russia’s TV Channel One on Wednesday.
The World Health Organization on November 26 designated the novel coronavirus B.1.1.529, discovered in Southern Africa with the Greek letter Omicron. The WHO said the new strain was "more virulent" and a "variant of concern."
Southern Africa is the epicenter of the new strain. The largest number of Omicron cases have been exposed in South Africa.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova on Monday said 177 people, who had arrived from South Africa, were under observation in the Moscow Region. Sixteen of them have been diagnosed with Omicron. The chief of the consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said eleven of them had been vaccinated and seven recovered from the coronavirus infection. One person had been vaccinated and previously infected with the virus.
All of those infected with the new variant were experiencing the mild form of the disease.