Omicron: Russia discovers first two cases of new COVID-19 variant

Russia announced its first verified cases of Omicron variant of the Coronavirus in two patients who returned from South Africa on Monday. As per the reports of Rospotrebnadzor, 10 people who returned from South Africa tested positive for COVID-19, among them Omicron was found in two returnees. Last Monday, President Vladimir Putin issued a directive to the government to plan to combat Omicron, stating that maintaining medicine, oxygen, and hospital bed supply was critical.

Everyone who has recently returned from South Africa has been confined in observation facilities, according to Rospotrebnadzor. All tourists who tested positive for the virus were hospitalised and it's unclear if they were admitted to the hospital as a precaution or because they were critically unwell. Russia has restricted entry for all foreign tourists from southern African countries and has placed all Russian nationals returning from South Africa or neighbouring countries in quarantine for 14 days as of Thursday.

32,136 new cases and 1,184 deaths in Russia

Health officials are finding out more about Omicron, including if it is more contagious, whether it causes people to get more critically ill, and whether it can evade Coronavirus vaccinations. There were 32,136 new cases and 1,184 deaths reported in Russia on Friday, according to AP News. More than 9.8 million confirmed infections and 282,462 deaths have been documented by the state Coronavirus task group. However, according to a report released Friday by the state statistics agency Rosstat, the overall number of virus-related deaths between April 2020 and October 2021 was over 537,000.

Around 50 million Russians had received at least one vaccination dosage by October, according to Statista. Many regions, including Moscow's capital, have mandated that businesses in certain industries vaccinate at least 60% of their workforce. Healthcare, education, retail and a variety of services are just a few of these industries.

Russia's healthcare system must be prepared to meet the new challenges: Putin

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is in India right now, gave the government a week to come up with a revised COVID-19 response plan that takes into consideration the new Omicron Coronavirus type, according to AP News. The Russian president stated that Russia's healthcare system must be prepared to meet the new challenges posed by the evolving virus and that the world can only effectively combat the pandemic by concerted international effort.

(Inputs from AP News)

Image: Unsplash/ AP