“There are no prerequisites for widespread dissemination”: no cases of the “iota” strain of COVID-19 have been identified in the Russian Federation

In Russia, over the past day, the coronavirus was detected in 21,571 people.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 6,512,859 cases of infection have been recorded in the country.

For all the time 5,808,777 people have recovered (20,067 in the last 24 hours).

Over the past day, 799 patients died from complications that developed against the background of COVID-19 and concomitant diseases, and the total number of deaths reached 167,241.

Among the regions in terms of the number of new confirmed cases, the leaders are Moscow (2076), St. Petersburg (1804), Moscow (1054), Nizhny Novgorod (535) and Sverdlovsk (521) regions.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 170.1 million laboratory tests for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus have been performed in the country, including 388 thousand in the last day.

More than 1.2 million people remain under medical supervision.

Meanwhile, American scientists reported on a study of the iota coronavirus strain (also designated B.1.526), ​​which was first identified in New York in November 2020.

According to their data, this mutation can spread about 15-25% faster than other varieties of SARS-CoV-2.

At the same time, the “iota” strain increases the mortality rate by one and a half times or more (the proportion of deaths from the total number of infected) in the age groups 45-64 years old, 65-74 years old and over 75 years old.

This is stated in an article on the MedRxiv preprint portal.

According to the chief freelance specialist of the Ministry of Health of Russia on medical prevention of the Ural Federal District, Doctor of Medical Sciences Sergei Tokarev, a new mutation of the coronavirus infection is capable of "escaping the immune response."

"The new strain is an even more pathogenic and transmissible (infectious) variant of the coronavirus, and it has a greater ability to elude the immune response," the URA.RU portal quoted him as saying.

In Russia, at the moment, no cases of the disease with the "iota" strain of coronavirus infection have been identified, the State Scientific Center for Virology and Biotechnology "Vector" of Rospotrebnadzor reported.

“Observations of circulating variants of the new coronavirus indicate that the delta variant is pushing other variants out of circulation.

Against the background of the dominance of the "delta" option, there are no prerequisites for the widespread use of the "iota" option, "the report says, the text of which is quoted by TASS.

Let us emphasize that it is the "delta" strain of COVID-19 that has recently become widespread in Russia.

According to the Rospotrebnadzor of August 5, 68% of cases detected in Russia are attributable to this variant of the coronavirus.

As follows from cohort studies of the effectiveness of "Sputnik V" against the "delta" strain of COVID-19, the epidemiological effectiveness of the vaccine against the "delta" variant of coronavirus infection was 83.1%, and the drug was also able to prevent hospitalization of the infected in 94.37% of cases.

“The vaccine practically more than 95% prevents a serious illness from a new coronavirus infection, and, importantly, it prevents these serious diseases that require hospitalization.

That is, this drug is effective today and continues to work, ”said Russian Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko.

In turn, the director of the Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology named after N.F.

Gamalei Alexander Gunzburg stated that Sputnik V demonstrates safety and high efficiency against any variations of the coronavirus.

"It is effective not only against directly those strains against which it was created, but also against those numerous strains that have recently appeared and are constantly attacking us," he said.

In addition, Gunzburg pointed out that the disease with coronavirus infection in 70% of cases "does not pass without a trace."

According to him, serious complications are observed, which can sometimes lead to disability, and sometimes to a long recovery period.

“The nature of this infection speaks unambiguously that it is necessary to be vaccinated.

Unfortunately, there is no need to hope that a person will survive the disease and be resistant to it, so the only correct strategy and tactic is to get vaccinated, ”said the director of the Gamaleya center.

Recall that a year ago, on August 11, 2020, Vladimir Putin announced the registration in Russia of the world's first vaccine against coronavirus, named "Sputnik V" in honor of the first artificial satellite of the Earth.

According to the press service of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, during this time, the domestic drug against COVID-19 has demonstrated "the best indicators of safety and effectiveness in comparison with foreign counterparts."

“The data of the mass use of Sputnik V in Russia, Argentina, Bahrain, Hungary, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia and the Philippines indicate its high efficiency, the absence of serious side effects in general and the minimum number of adverse events after vaccination.

In countries where several vaccines were used simultaneously, it was the Russian drug that demonstrated the best safety and efficacy, ”the statement says.

In addition, over the past 12 months, Sputnik V has been registered in 69 countries of the world with a total population of over 3.7 billion people. Moreover, vaccination using the drug is carried out in more than 50 countries. In addition, with the assistance of RDIF, agreements were concluded with representatives of 14 countries on the production of more than 700 million doses of Sputnik V per year.