The third coronavirus wave has transformed into a fourth, which continues its progress across the majority of Russian regions, the Russian Health Ministry's Chief Independent Expert on Infectious Diseases Vladimir Chulanov said on Tuesday.
"At present, we are registering almost 40,000 new coronavirus cases each day. Our third wave turned into a fourth one, which unfortunately still continues in the majority of regions, the number of new coronavirus cases is on the increase," he said at the X Jubilee International Scientific-Practical Conference "Molecular Diagnostics 2021".
Chulanov stressed that the Delta strain currently circulating in the country is significantly different from the strain that started the pandemic. According to him, the new strain is transmitted faster from one person to another, and also has the property to elude the neutralizing activity of antibodies, TASS reported.
"It has greater pathogenicity, it is capable of causing a more severe case of the disease with a greater probability of an unfavorable outcome," he added.
