Russia identifies 2 cases of South African Covid-19 variant: Regulator

Rospotrebnadzor said Russia had also now found 28 cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in Britain. It reported the first case of that strain in January.

Russia has identified two cases of the new variant of the coronavirus first detected in South Africa, consumer health regulator Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: A man receives an injection with Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a vaccination centre opened at the Yandex Go centre for drivers and couriers in Moscow, Russia January 27, 2021. (REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo)

According to news agency Reuters, since the start of the pandemic, Russia recorded more than 4 million COVID-19 cases and over 90,000 deaths,

Rospotrebnadzor said Russia had also now found 28 cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in Britain. It reported the first case of that strain in January.

Russian state-sponsored news agency, TASS, reported today that the country has registered a "test system" for detecting several different coronavirus strains.

The British coronavirus strain is also among the variants that Russia is developing detection for, the agency quoted Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko as saying.

Russia claims that it doesn’t yet have the Brazilian variant of the virus, although the so-called British variant was detected.

The country is currently embroiled in a controversy with the United States over alleged coronavirus vaccine 'misinformation', that the US has accused Russia of spreading to "undermine" Covid-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna.

(With inputs from Reuters)