The emergence of a new strain of coronavirus was predicted by virologist, head of the MIPT genomic engineering laboratory Pavel Volchkov. In an interview with Izvestia, he shared the details.
If a new superstrain of COVID-19 appears, the expert pointed out, then most likely it will happen in “regions with zero tolerance for coronavirus.” Volchkov included China and the states of South Asia among them.
“In China, there are 1.5 billion people who have actually not been ill. Hypothetically, such a country could become a new round in strain formation: 1.5 billion people who have not been ill are a huge resource base for the virus, it has a place to multiply, ”the virologist believes.
In other countries, it is more difficult for new variants of SARS-CoV-2 to appear due to the lack of a sufficient resource base, the specialist specified. He recalled that most people in other regions of the world have already encountered this virus.
Pavel Volchkov added that, in general, the emergence of a new superstrain is unlikely.
Earlier, Andrey Isaev, the founder and CEO of the DNCOM Research Center for Molecular Genetic Research, said that the new strain of the omicron coronavirus will displace the delta variant from the population or its circulation will be limited to hard-to-reach and remote regions of Russia.
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