Scientists at the University of Hong Kong have published images of a new "omicron" strain of coronavirus discovered yesterday in South Africa.

The picture on the left shows a micrograph of the "omicron" strain in the kidney cell of a primate infected with the virus. Damage - swollen vesicles, or intracellular organelles, inside which are black particles of the virus.

The image on the right shows the Vero E6 cell at an enlarged scale - this allows you to see aggregates of viral particles, shaped like thorns or corona.

Recall that the omicron strain was found in November in the southern part of South Africa. According to the WHO, the strain has 32 mutations - the highest rate during a pandemic.

According to Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor, because of these mutations, the infectiousness of the strain increases, providing increased binding to receptors in the human body.

Nevertheless, Pyotr Chumakov, virologist, corresponding member RAS and head of the cell proliferation laboratory at the Institute of Molecular Biology. V.A. Engelhardt, yesterday suggested that omicron has a chance of becoming a "live vaccine" against coronavirus, since the strain is less pathogenic, despite its infectiousness.

According to WHO, as of December 3, the South African strain was detected in 38 countries of the world, and on December 6, Russia confirmed the first two cases of infection with a new coronavirus mutation in people who returned from South Africa.

bbabo.Net