Dramatic growth in COVID-19 incidence forecasted in Russia in late January

A dramatic growth in COVID-19 incidence is forecasted in Russia in late January - early February, deputy director of the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Denis Logunov, said on Tuesday.

"I am absolutely sure that we will have a serious growth in the Omicron cases in late January - early February," he said in an interview with the Solovyov Live YouTube channel.

According to Logunov, although this strain is more transmittable, it causes lesser deaths and hospitalizations.

On November 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the B.1.1.529 variant identified in South Africa as a "Variant of Concern" and assigned it the Greek letter Omicron. In its statement, the WHO noted that "this variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning." According to Russia’s sanitary watchdog, there were 103 Omicron cases in Russia as of December 30, 2021.