“Comparing the genetic data on viruses circulating in Russia with the data on population movements, scientists concluded that the virus diversity was obtained due to at least 67 independent deliveries of the virus to different cities of Russia in late February - early March,” the study says .
It is noted that, according to the data obtained, unlike other countries, the virus was brought to Russia not from China, but mainly from Europe.
As specified, the work was carried out by researchers from the Skoltech Center for Life Sciences, the Higher School of Economics, and the A. A. Flu Institute. Smorodintsev and A.A. Institute of Information Transmission Problems Kharkevich led by Professor Skoltech George Bazykin.
The report also says that "at the moment in Russia are circulating at least nine different variants of the virus that are not observed in other countries."
Earlier it became known that more than 25.2 million tests for the detection of coronavirus infection were conducted in Russia.
At the end of June, Doctor of Biological Sciences Alexei Agranovsky in an interview with URA.RU assessed the probability of the second wave of COVID-19.