MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Out of 16 people with the Omicron strain who arrived in Russia from South Africa, 11 had been previously vaccinated against coronavirus, Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova reported on Tuesday.

She noted that seven also had previously been infected with the coronavirus. The top sanitary doctor specified that one person was both inoculated and infected earlier.

"These 16 detected who have the new Omicron strain, <...> among them are generally immune people. There are individuals who either were vaccinated - there are 11 of them; or who previously had the disease - there are seven of those among them," she said at a general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

The head of the sanitary watchdog added that to date, clinical manifestations of the disease have been observed in 17 arrivals from South Africa.

According to her, in the majority of the observed patients the incubation period amounted to seven days, overall, the range was from three to ten days.

"All the observed patients have a mild form of the disease. Fever, weakness, headache, cough, sleep disturbances, and catarrhal symptoms have been observed, while two patients experienced diarrhea. Only one patient complained of a distorted sense of taste and smell," she specified.