MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. Omicron is replacing Delta as the dominant global coronavirus variant and the same will happen in Russia as well, Vladimir Gushchin, head of the Gamaleya Center’s laboratory of population variability mechanisms of pathogens, said on Tuesday.

"Looking at what is happening in the world, the Omicron variant is replacing the previous variant, Delta, which was the dominant variant. Naturally, it will take place in our country as well," he said in an interview with the Solovyov Live YouTube channel.

On November 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the B.1.1.529 variant identified in South Africa as a "Variant of Concern" and assigned it the Greek letter omicron. In its statement, the WHO noted that "this variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning." According to Russia’s sanitary watchdog, there were 103 Omicron cases in Russia as of December 30, 2021.