Russia (bbabo.net), - The "younger brother" of "omicron" came to Russia - this subspecies was coded BA.2, and in Denmark and Great Britain, where it was first isolated in December and massively spread in January, it called "stealth-omicron", that is, "cunning, invisible." And all because it is more infectious than the original strain, and at the same time, not all sequencing methods can identify it.
According to European scientists, "stealth omicron" is one and a half times more contagious than its predecessor. And to date, cases of infection with it have been recorded in Moscow, Mari El, the Rostov region, Bashkortostan, - said the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova.
Moreover, experts, according to her, are closely watching another, already the third variety of "omicron" - BA.3, but this alien has not yet been found in Russia.
Should we be afraid of the second and third "omicrons"? According to preliminary data, they do not pose a serious threat. But, speaking of this, experts necessarily emphasize the word "preliminarily."
“According to our Danish colleagues, this substrain did not cause an increase in childhood morbidity and hospitalization in general. It was treated in the same way as omicron, and all covid restrictions were lifted from the beginning of the week,” said the infectious disease specialist, chief physician of the network of medical laboratories "Invitro-Siberia" Andrey Pozdnyakov. This lab, like some others, has already begun testing for omicron.
“In addition, the experience of Denmark, where more than 90% of the population is immunized, shows that the new substrain does not cause big problems for those vaccinated and recovered. Its symptoms are similar to those of previous strains. Of course, it is advisable to see a doctor and undergo an examination, but the key factor will be Whether a person is immunized or not," Pozdnyakov said.
To date, later variations of the "omicron" have already been registered in more than 20 countries. At the same time, the WHO also claims that the "invisible" "omicron" is as soft as the original one. "Looking at countries where BA.2 dominates, we don't see higher rates of hospitalization," said Dr. Boris Pavlin, a member of the WHO response team.
Rospotrebnadzor reported yesterday that our epidemiologists are armed with everything necessary to track the further evolution of the coronavirus: a new laboratory technique has been developed at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, which allows you to determine all three lines of the Omicron strain.
"Research is carried out by real-time PCR. The method allows you to get a reliable result within a few hours. The new technique will be used for screening studies, which will allow you to quickly conduct virological monitoring and respond to changes in the epidemiological situation," the ministry noted.
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The effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine against moderate, severe and very severe cases of COVID-19 exceeded 88% - this was shown by the six-month monitoring of vaccine vaccinated by the Gamaleya Center. New data from post-registration studies have been included in the instructions for use of the drug. According to the third (post-registration) phase of trials, the effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine against severe COVID-19 is 91% for the base (Wuhan) strain. Under conditions of dominance of the "delta" strain, the effectiveness of the vaccine decreased somewhat, but remained quite high - 70.5%. "Thus, immunization significantly reduces the likelihood of disease," the instructions say. The new version of the document recommends the use of this vaccine, including for people over 60 who have not previously been vaccinated and have not had COVID-19.
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