The Russian public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said a
total of 10 people who returned from South Africa recently tested positive for
COVID-19, but the new variant has only been confirmed in two cases so far, with
other samples still being studied for omicron.
All those returning from South Africa in recent days have
been quarantined in observation facilities, according to media reports. All
travelers who tested positive for the virus have been hospitalized,
Rospotrebnadzor said. It wasn’t immediately clear if they were hospitalized as
a precaution or because they were seriously ill.
Russia restricted entry for all foreigners traveling from
countries in southern Africa and required all Russian nationals returning from
South Africa or neighboring countries as of Thursday to quarantine for 14 days
because of the omicron variant, which was first reported by scientists in South
Africa.
Much remains unknown about the new variant, including
whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it
makes people more seriously ill, and whether it can thwart coronavirus
vaccines.
Last week, the developer of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine said
that it will begin working on adapting its COVID-19 vaccine to counter the
omicron variant.
The Gamaleya Center and the Russian Direct Investment Fund
that bankrolled Sputnik V and its one-shot version Sputnik Light said in a
joint statement that the existing vaccine should be efficient against the new
variant, but offered no study data to back the claim.
Russia in recent months has faced its deadliest and largest
surge of coronavirus cases, with officially reported infections and deaths
regularly hitting all-time highs and only slowing in the past couple of weeks.
According to Russia’s state statistics agency, 74,893 people
with COVID-19 died in October — the highest monthly tally in the pandemic.
Despite Russia being the first country in the world to
register its vaccine against COVID-19, vaccination rates remain poor. Last
week, more Russian regions imposed mandatory vaccination for people aged 60 and
over, in an effort to boost vaccine uptake and keep contagion and fatalities
down.
Russia on Monday reported 32,136 new cases and 1,184 deaths.
The state coronavirus task force has reported a total of more than 9.8 million
confirmed infections and 282,462 deaths in the pandemic.
But a report released Friday by the state statistics agency
Rosstat, which uses broader criteria, put the overall number of virus-linked
deaths between April 2020 and October 2021 to over 537,000 — almost twice the
official toll. -AP
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