MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. If the new Omicron coronavirus strain proliferates, Russia will hope for the best but prepare for the worst, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Tuesday.
"It’s much better to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Perhaps, this should be our motto," he said, replying to a question as to which scenario, an optimistic or a pessimistic one, was the Kremlin forecasting for the Omicron situation.
"In terms of preparedness, you know that thanks to the work of our government’s crisis center, our entire logistics is ready for an extreme load on the healthcare system. [There was] a previous wave [of the pandemic], we weathered it, and the one before that, and we see that a lot of experience has been accumulated," the Kremlin official explained.
According to Putin’s press secretary, "diametrically opposing points of view among scientists on Omicron indicate that it has been insufficiently researched so far, so work is still ahead in order to understand whether it is dangerous or not." "Undoubtedly, this is a new strain, so this is a new threat," he concluded.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with members of the government where the situation with the spread of Omicron will be discussed among other subjects. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova will report on the situation.
Omicron - a new strain emerges
On December 13, news broke that the Omicron strain was confirmed in 16 out of 177 arrivals in Russia from South Africa. The deputy prime minister noted that this indicates its high contagiousness. Overall, she thinks that the emergence and spread of the new strain may exacerbate the coronavirus situation in Russia.
Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko reported that those Russians infected with Omicron are in satisfactory condition. The majority of them have immunity - they were either vaccinated or had previously been infected with the coronavirus.
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." The highest number of those infected with it has been detected in South Africa.
Furthermore, on Monday, the first fatality linked to Omicron was reported. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that "at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with Omicron.".