Nine Russians who returned to Russia from South Africa were diagnosed with coronavirus, the strain is being established, Rospotrebnadzor reported.

“Among the people who arrived from South Africa, a positive PCR test for coronavirus was already detected in nine Russian citizens previously placed in the observatory.

All of them are hospitalized, are under medical supervision, ”the message says.

As specified in the department, earlier the specialists of the sanitary and quarantine control carried out all the necessary measures on flights from South Africa and Ethiopia.

In particular, the flight from Ethiopia carried 58 passengers directly from South Africa.

It is noted that express testing is organized for citizens at the airport, they are placed in the observatory, and they undergo PCR testing every day.

According to the latest data from the headquarters, over the past day, 32,602 cases of coronavirus were detected in Russia.

At the same time, 30,593 people fully recovered, 1206 died from complications that developed against the background of COVID-19 and concomitant diseases.

Over the entire period of observations in the Russian Federation, 9,801,613 cases of coronavirus were detected.

281,278 deaths were recorded, 8,502,406 people recovered.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, over the entire period of the pandemic, more than 228 million laboratory tests for coronavirus were performed, including 587 thousand in the last day.

1.7 million people remain under medical supervision.

The capital's headquarters reports that 3301 new cases of coronavirus infection were detected in Moscow per day.

842 people were hospitalized, 92 patients died.

There are 561 people on ventilators in Moscow hospitals.

In St. Petersburg, 2420 new cases of COVID-19 were detected per day, in the Moscow region - 2096. In other Russian regions, the number of cases in 24 hours did not exceed 1,000.

Strain "omicron"

The head of the Red Cross, Francesco Rocca, spoke in an interview with RT about the emergence of the omicron strain of the coronavirus.

He is of the opinion that the emergence of "omicron" serves as proof of the need for vaccination against coronavirus.

“We call this the most compelling proof that if there is no vaccination around the world, if the opportunity to vaccinate is not provided to absolutely everyone on earth, then the risk of new strains will be extremely high,” he said.

At the same time, the head of the organization urged not to blame South African scientists for pointing out this new discovery to the scientific community.

“This is just ridiculous and threatens our future, because in the future other countries may hide their discoveries from the scientific community for fear of restrictions and sanctions, as was the case with South Africa,” added Rocca.

We will remind, at the end of November it became known that scientists have identified a new strain of coronavirus.

Initially, it was reported about the emergence of a new version of SARS-CoV-2 in Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong.

The strain with an extremely high number of mutations was named B.1.1.529.

Later the variant was designated by the Greek letter "omicron".

Against the background of the emergence of a new strain, a number of states have decided to restrict transport links with other countries.

Around the world, there are continuing reports of the identification of new cases of the omicron strain.

South African President Cyril Ramaposa, meanwhile, urged not to panic over the spread of a new strain of coronavirus.

Ramaposa noted that the rise in cases of the omicron strain COVID-19 does not lead to an increase in the number of hospitalizations, which, according to the South African president, "should be encouraging."

“Despite the fact that the virus is easily transmitted, this does not lead to an alarming increase in the number of infected people admitted to hospitals.

This fact is very important, "TASS quoted him as saying.

Federal system of sanitary and epidemiological information

On Sunday, December 5, it became known that Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved a regulation on the creation of a federal information system of sanitary and epidemiological information in the country.

"In Russia, a federal information system of information of a sanitary and epidemiological nature will be created ... The system will allow to more quickly identify and track the spread of dangerous infections and take the necessary measures," the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers said.

It is noted that the new system will be part of the Sanitary Shield project, the purpose of which is to preserve the health of citizens and protect them from possible epidemics.

Rospotrebnadzor is responsible for the formation and maintenance of the system.