MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/. The Omicron coronavirus variant is rapidly transmitted from person to person as it is twice as contagious as the flu, head of Russia’s sanitary watchdog Anna Popova said in an interview with Rossiya-24’s Nailya Asker-zade on Friday.
"A large part [of the population], primarily in big cities, is contracting the new Omicron strain that has been spreading rapidly, which confirms its ability to be quickly transmitted from person to person and quickly infect people. As for its contagiousness, it is very contagious, twice as contagious as the flu, for instance," she noted.
Popova noted that treatment methods for the flu were totally different from those applicable to the coronavirus. "For example, when it’s about COVID-19, our concern is about the risk of blood clots, so it requires a special treatment technique, while with the flu, we seek to prevent major hemorrhages, so the treatment technique is totally different. That said, differential diagnostics is crucial," she added.
The B.1.1.529 coronavirus strain, named after the Greek letter omicron, was first discovered in southern Africa in 2021. According to the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center, 83 Russian regions have already reported Omicron cases.