OREANDA-NEWS. A strain of the delta plus coronavirus was discovered in Russia, the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said.

Information that a new version of SARS-CoV-2 entered the country appeared last week. This was reported by the publication Fontanka.ru with reference to the deputy director of the Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza for scientific work Daria Danilenko. Then Rospotrebnadzor noted that they were studying this data.

"We checked all the information very carefully. The information was confirmed: this is indeed a" delta plus "option, - said Popova at a meeting of the presidium of the coordinating council to combat COVID-19.

According to her, the patient who became infected with this option suffered a mild illness.

"Everything ended well here. But I would like to draw your attention to the fact that it is very important to carry out mass immunization today," added the head of Rospotrebnadzor.

As Popova emphasized, at the end of the past week, the incidence of COVID-19 increased in all regions. In this regard, the chief sanitary doctor asked Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to support the Rospotrebnadzor project to ban public events.

The delta-plus strain (B.1.617.2.1) was discovered in June in the Indian state of Maharashtra. This variety is distinguished by the presence of the K417N mutation in the spike protein; it can reduce the activity of serum and antibodies in people who have been ill and vaccinated.

The delta-plus mutation was recognized as "of concern." This is the name of a variant of a virus if there is evidence that it can be either more infectious than the original one, or causes more serious illness, or can "escape" the action of vaccines or antibodies.