MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. There is no reliable scientific evidence that rapidly disseminating Delta variant of COVID-19 causes a more severe progression of the disease, said Anna Popova, Russia’s chief sanitary doctor, on Wednesday.
"The information that the Delta strain causes a more severe course [of the disease] has not been described anywhere in the world. The Delta variant spreads rapidly and has greater contagiousness. That’s the reason why a greater percentage of the population should be protected with a vaccine," she said.
At the end of March, India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported that a new coronavirus strain was detected in the country with E484Q and L452R mutations in the S-protein. The presence of two mutations at once that had previously been observed in other genetic viral variants worldwide has caused particular alarm. It was also reported that these mutations were being discovered in approximately 15-20% of samples and were not encountered in the British, South African and Brazilian strains.