OREANDA-NEWS. Director of the Center. Gamalei Alexander Gunzburg said he would test the effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine against the new COVID-19 strain from Botswana when he receives a sample. He told TASS about this.

“Arguably, we can experimentally answer after we have this strain. At the moment, we still do not have this strain, when it will be - we will do it, ”he said.

Earlier, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev said that the Sputnik V vaccine, if necessary, could be quickly adapted to a new strain of coronavirus that was discovered in South Africa.

Prior to this, it became known that in South African Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong, ten cases of infection with a new strain of COVID-19 called B.1.1.529 were detected, which may turn out to be more pathogenic than other variants of the coronavirus. It contains 32 mutations, some of which indicate its high transmissibility and resistance to vaccines, and has more changes in the spike protein than all other COVID-19 variants.

In this regard, Germany and the Czech Republic have closed the entry for foreigners from South Africa, and the UK has temporarily suspended flights to six South African countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called an emergency meeting over a new strain.