Russia Reports First Case Of New Variant Of COVID-19

Illustration - a man has his temperature checked before he gets an injection of the COVID-19 vaccine in Moscow (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Russia reports the first case of a new, more contagious variant of the corona virus which first appeared in the UK. This case came from a Russian citizen who had just arrived from Queen Elizabeth, England and tested positive at the end of last December.

Launching Antara on Monday, the RIA News Agency reported the news on Sunday, January 10, citing the consumer health watchdog.

Russia suspended flights to the UK from December to January 13 over the discovery of a new strain of COVID-19 in the UK.

Authorities will also impose a mandatory two-week self-isolation period for British migrants.

Russia on Sunday January 10 reported 22,851 new cases of COVID-19, including 4,216 cases recorded in Moscow, bringing the total to 3,401,954 cases since the pandemic broke out.

This figure puts Russia in fourth place, the country with the highest caseload of COVID-19 in the world.

Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin explained simply the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19 that has caught the world's attention, including Indonesia.

"Indeed, the virus is a collection of living proteins. To make this a little simple, why is it called the corona virus, the virus is round, there are coronas, there are like horns. In which there is protein n, e or m. whose horn is called protein S. In these proteins there are many amino acids, the components in the protein that make up this protein and that which change, "said Minister of Health Budi Gunadi in a video quoted by VOI, Sunday, January 3.

This explanation was conveyed by Budi in a question and answer session with Menparekraf Sandiaga Uno. The Minister of Health's explanation video about the new COVID-19 variant has been uploaded to the Instagram account of Sandiaga Uno.

“What is the impact (new variant) on us? number 1 is more contagious, number 2 is no more deadly. Number 3 can still be detected with the virus with existing tools, antigen swab or PCR swab, "said the Minister of Health.

The COVID-19 mutation was called the Minister of Health that could not be detected. However, if someone is exposed to this virus, it is certain that the Minister of Health can be detected.