The number of variants of the COVID-19 pathogen has suddenly increased in Russia.
Rospotrebnadzor has recorded a sharp increase in coronavirus variants in the Russian Federation that are capable of bypassing the immune system.
According to Rospotrebnadzor monitoring data, over the past 2-3 weeks in the Russian Federation, the proportion of circulating variants of the KP.3 and LB.1 coronavirus strains has increased by 2.5 times.
These variants, which belong to the FLiRT sublineage, have specific mutations in the spike protein.
Thanks to this, the virus is able to bypass the immune response.
The department emphasized that the LB.1 and KP.3 variants have increased infectivity.
The mutation in the LB.1 variant is more capable than others of bypassing the immune response.
Rospotrebnadzor stated that the increase in the share of LB.1 and KP.3 variants, along with seasonal diseases, led to a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in Russia.
