MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. The development of herd immunity to coronavirus in Russia naturally would take 7-10 years, Deputy Director for Research at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology Alexander Gorelov said in an interview with Channel One on Wednesday.

"If we consider the natural mechanism of the immunity development, formation of 60-70%, it will take 7-10 years," he said.

The epidemiologist recalled that virus mutations occur only in an organism without immunity.

"When vaccination coverage reaches this number [60-70%], we give a chance to 6% who, due to health reasons, cannot be vaccinated, save their lives without meeting the infection curve," Gorelov added.

It was reported earlier that Russia confirmed 21,571 COVID-19 cases over the past day, and the total case tally hit 6,512,859. In relative terms, the incidence rate grew by 0.33%.

Moscow registered 2,076 coronavirus cases over the past day. Some 1,804 COVID-19 cases were recorded in St. Petersburg, 1,054 in the Moscow Region, 535 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 521 in the Sverdlovsk Region and 483 in the Rostov Region. Currently, 536,841 people are undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in Russia.