OREANDA-NEWS. There is no evidence that a coronavirus mutation with the ability to infect people in a new way will be viable, and the new route of infection will become more active than the classic one. This was announced to RIA Novosti by the head of the Yekaterinburg Research Institute of Viral Infections FBSI GNTs VB "Vector" Rospotrebnadzor, Doctor of Biological Sciences Alexander Semenov.

Earlier in the journal Cell Reports, information appeared that scientists from the University of Washington in St. Louis and other scientific organizations in the United States have identified the ability of the coronavirus to infect people in a new way. In the usual mechanism, with the help of a spike protein, the virus clings to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on the cell surface and enters it, but, as experts have found, due to the mutation, the coronavirus may not use the ACE2 receptors.

"It has not been proven that such a mutation will be more viable and that this path is somehow more active than the classical one," Semenov said.

As he noted, scientists have not proven that vaccines will not neutralize this strain, because now they neutralize alpha, beta, gamma, and delta strains. According to Semenov, it is not a fact that the new variant will enter the cage through some other route.

It is possible to reduce the chances of spreading this mutation if you get vaccinated against the coronavirus as soon as possible and stop the circulation of the virus in the population, Semenov emphasized.

"In any case, this is an argument in favor of being vaccinated as soon as possible in order to avoid contact with this new variant of the coronavirus, from which we can all get a lot of problems," the scientist said.