The Russian vaccine against coronavirus infection "Sputnik V" has shown its effectiveness against the British strain of SARS-CoV-2.

This was told by the head of the Ministry of Health Mikhail Murashko. 

He said that experts have conducted a study of the neutralizing activity of the blood serum of volunteers vaccinated with "Sputnik V" against the British variety of the virus.

“According to the results of the study, the level of neutralizing antibodies to the British strain does not significantly differ from the level of neutralizing antibodies to the original SARS-CoV-2 strain.

Thus, the Sputnik V vaccine protects against a mutated British strain of coronavirus no less effectively than against a conventional strain, "TASS quotes Murashko.

Recall that the discovery of a new strain of coronavirus in the UK became known in mid-December 2020.

Then the Prime Minister of the country Boris Johnson said that it spreads 70% faster than the known types of this virus. 

On January 10, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, spoke about the detection of the first case of infection with this strain in Russia.

According to her, the disease was discovered at the end of last year in a Russian who returned from the United Kingdom.

Popova already then stressed that vaccines created in Russia protect, among other things, from a new variety of the virus. 

In mid-February, Rospotrebnadzor reported that the department's specialists had developed and registered the world's first test system for detecting the British strain of coronavirus.

At the same time, on March 12, Anna Popova clarified that people who have suffered the variants of coronavirus common in Russia will no longer be infected with the British strain.

“People who have been ill with the strain that predominantly circulates in the Russian Federation should not get sick when they encounter the British strain, because we see a neutralization reaction.

People vaccinated with both the one and the second Russian vaccines should not get sick, because the antibodies in their blood neutralize both the usual strain, the reference, and the British one.

It also happens for all other strains, ”TASS quotes her as saying.

The head of Rospotrebnadzor explained that the specialists of the Vector Center use the serum of people who have been ill and vaccinated with Russian vaccines to study whether the antibodies present in the serum of people neutralize viruses. 

The situation with coronavirus in Russia

Over the past day, 9 794 new cases of COVID-19 were detected in Russia, of which the largest number was found in Moscow (1610) and St. Petersburg (957).

During this time, 13 496 patients were cured of the disease, 486 people died.

The total number of COVID-19 cases recorded in the country since the beginning of the pandemic has reached 4,370,617. During the whole time, 3,973,029 people have recovered, and 91,220 patients have died.

As the head of Rospotrebnadzor noted, the fact that Russia has several vaccines for COVID-19 makes it possible to make the most optimistic forecasts for combating the pandemic.

"The Russian Federation is the only country where there are three vaccines on different platforms, developed by scientists from domestic state scientific institutions," Popova recalled.

She noted that coronavirus is becoming a seasonal disease, and therefore the importance of mass vaccinations is increasing to stop the spread of the virus.

At the same time, the head of the department recalled the need to comply with the mask regime, noting that "no one has canceled it yet."

Wearing a mask, according to her, is necessary in public places, in public places and when more than 50 people are crowded on the street.

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Meanwhile, the Russian Direct Investment Fund announced that Namibia became the 50th country to approve the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

The RDIF clarified that the Ministry of Health and Social Support of Namibia registered the drug under an accelerated procedure.

In August 2020, Russia was the first in the world to register the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, which was developed by specialists from the Gamaleya Center.

Later, two more Russian drugs were registered - "EpiVacCorona" of the State Scientific Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector" and "KoviVac" of the Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immunobiological Preparations named after M. P. Chumakov of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

On February 2, one of the largest medical publications, The Lancet, published a material which stated that, according to the results of an international independent examination, the drug provides complete protection against severe cases of coronavirus, and its effectiveness is 91.6%.