MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. Russia has registered a test system for detecting various coronavirus strains, including the British one, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Tuesday.

"Today, we registered a test system for [detecting] a number of coronavirus strains, namely the English one," he said during an expanded session of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) on health protection.

According to the World Health Organization, the VOC-202012/01 coronavirus strain appeared in the UK in September 2020. In South Africa, a 501Y.V2 has been circulating since early August, and Brazil and Japan detected a P.1 strain in December.