MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. The coronavirus epidemic is intensifying in Russia, the press service of Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing told reporters on Tuesday following a teleconference.

"The activation of the COVID-19 epidemic process continues. During the fifth week of 2023, Russia recorded more than 60,000 new cases. The incidence rate has grown almost by 33% versus the previous week," its statement said.

As of February 6, over 231,000 genome sequences of the virus have been uploaded to the VGARus database which were obtained as a result of full-genome and fragment sequencing. Over the past two weeks, the gene variants of the Omicron coronavirus strain have remained predominant, the press service added.