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Coronavirus pandemic

Russian test systems detect coronavirus regardless of strain, ex-health minister says

The scientist noted that an additional test system would also allow detecting those mutations of the coronavirus that require additional observation since they might cause a slightly more complicated course of the disease

© Sergei Karpukhin/TASS

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. All domestic test systems used in Russia for the detection of the coronavirus identify it regardless of strain, Head of Russia’s Federal Medical Biological Agency (FMBA) Veronika Skvortsova said on Monday.

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"Yes, absolutely. We checked all our systems, including in case when some changes, mutations appear in the S-protein. One has to say that promoters, the active part of our test systems, were selected in such a correct way that the mutation practically does not get in, so they work with any strain," she said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The scientist noted that an additional test system developed by the FMBA would also allow detecting those mutations of the coronavirus that require additional observation since they might cause a slightly more complicated course of the disease in their carriers.

"Now, taking into account the necessary alertness regarding the variability of the virus and the detection of several more substantial mutations, we developed special technologies, the test systems for the detection of the mutations with a simple swab: not just a confirmation of the virus but the detection of those strains which signal that they require our special attention," she explained.

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