MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/. The coronavirus strains that emerged in Russia do not pose a serious threat because their mutations did not render them more infectious or dangerous for infected people, virologist Yevgeny Timakov told the Vesti.FM radio station on Tuesday to comment on the reports that the WHO took the AT.1 coronavirus variant that was detected in Russia down from the monitoring list.

"The virus is mutating, we are now seeing the key lines and pathogenic strains: the Brazilian, the British and the Indian strains, the South African variant as well which requires a serious response. The other mutations <…>, the northwest strain and our Siberian strain and there are around 15,000 more different changes which were identified in Russia, they have no epidemiological dangers because they <…> did not turn more infectious, did not affect our organs and tissues, that’s why these strains did not become viable," Timakov stressed. 

At the same time, he says that the Delta strain is becoming more stable and breaking through immunity easier. "The Indian [variant] pushed out everything that there is because its ability to link to our receptors, pierce into the human body and bypass immune barriers is now approaching an ideal state," the expert concluded.

According to the latest statistics, more than 195.5 million people have been infected worldwide and more than 4,100,000 deaths have been reported. To date, 6,172,812 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 5,526,950 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 155,380 fatalities nationwide. The Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.