Rospotrebnadzor experts said that new lines of the Omicron strain account for no more than 4% of all infections in Russia. It was these sublines that caused a new surge in the incidence in Europe and the United States.
The Omicron strain, which provoked the most powerful wave in terms of morbidity last winter, did not have time to become a thing of the past, as it immediately showed the world several of its sublines, called BA.4 and BA.5. It turned out that they were several times more contagious than the original “parental” version, and this again led to an increase in the incidence. Fortunately, there is no similar increase in deaths, although the burden on medical facilities in countries such as the US, Brazil or the UK has increased again.
Stealth-omicron has become absolutely dominant in Russia
So far, a similar jump in incidence in Russia has not been noted, but experts say it is a matter of time. At present, the share of sublines of this strain among the total number of detected infections in Russia has already reached 3.69%. The indicators are slowly growing, and it cannot be ruled out that by the end of summer the incidence rate will again rush sharply upwards.
The Omicron sub-variant is 33% more contagious
So far, this jump is being held back by the fact that Russia has cut off air links with most European countries, and the number of Russians visiting them has dropped sharply. So, just a much smaller number of those infected by those sublines gets into our country than into the countries of Europe and the USA. But it will not be possible to completely isolate yourself, so the development of a new wave is still inevitable. And given the fact that the level of herd immunity in Russia has already dropped to almost 20%, the infection numbers will be very impressive. (READ MORE) 
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Medicine
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