The Russian Academy of Sciences announced the replacement of the dominant COVID species in the Russian Federation with new variants

Variants of the coronavirus strain «omkiron» BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 («Cerberus») are likely to replace the BA.4 and BA.5 variants of the omicron strain that are dominant in Russia. Virologist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Alexander Lukashev spoke about this in an interview with TASS.

At the same time, this process, as the scientist specified, will not take place as quickly as the change in the circulation of the “delta” strain to “omicron”.

According to Lukashev, the replacement is expected to take place within a few months, but this is «not a matter of weeks.»

Earlier, Rospotrebnadzor drew attention to the fact that almost everyone already has immunity to COVID-19, at least partial, so even if the new version becomes widespread in the Russian Federation, there will not be a sharp increase in the incidence in the country.