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Coronavirus pandemic

New coronavirus strains do not significantly affect epidemiological process, says official

At the same time, Russia’s chief sanitary doctor stressed the importance of vaccination.

MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. The appearance of new coronavirus strains does not significantly affect the epidemiological process, head of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova stated on Friday.

"Even the new strains of the virus that we are detecting now do not essentially change the epidemiological process in any fundamental way. Viral transmission is the same, through airborne droplets, this is still a respiratory infection," she said during the session of the Russian Central Election Commission.

In this regard, Russia’s chief sanitary doctor stressed the importance of vaccination. "We have a lot of tools in our hands to stop the spread [of the virus]," Popova said. "The advantage today is that we have Russian vaccines and we have the opportunity to get vaccinated, and we need to use this advantage."

"There is only one way to stop the infection: we need to get vaccinated. So I am calling on everyone to do that as soon as possible," she stated.

Since the start of the pandemic, about 177.5 mln people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and over 3.8 mln have died after being infected. Russia has documented 5,281,309 COVID-19 cases, 4,850,569 recoveries and 128,445 deaths.

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