s many as 78 cases of the coronavirus strain first discovered in the United Kingdom have been detected in Russia so far, Director of the national health watchdog’s Central Research Center of Epidemiology Vasily Akimlin sai on Thursday, addressing the Third National Congress with International Participation dubbed "Infections. One Year with COVID-19: Results," TASS reports. 

"There are 78 cases of the British strain in Russia, another five patients have been diagnosed with the South African strain and 23 patients are infected with mutations that haven’t been described yet and require further study," he pointed out.

According to a presentation related to Akimkin’s address, the strains detected in the 23 patients can be of epidemiological importance.

On March 16, the Russian health watchdog said that 28 cases of the British strain and two cases of the South African strain had been identified in the country.

News.Az