NOVOSIBIRSK, November 17. /TASS/. The emergence of a mutated variety of the novel coronavirus in Siberia is not something exceptional and its properties remain basically unchanged, the chief of the experimental modelling and pathogenesis of infectious diseases department at the Federal Research Center of Fundamental and Translational Medicine, Alexander Shestopalov, told TASS.
Earlier, the chief of the consumer rights watchdog Anna Popova said the virus circulating in the Siberian region displayed some new features. The Rospotrebnadzor’s press-service said the virus was not something exceptional and characteristic only of Siberia. Specialists speculated it must be a mutation already found abroad.
"One can say that each city has its own virus variety. Yes, they are different from each other, but it remains unclear how considerable the distinctions are. Viruses always vary, but they spread in the same way and their properties are identical," Shestopalov said. He stressed that the mutated virus was not fundamentally different from its predecessors, and the vaccines developed by now were capable of providing protection against it.
To date, 1,971,013 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 1,475,904 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 33,931 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.