More than 40 thousand children in Russia are sick with coronavirus infection, transfers TASS with reference to the statement of the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Mikhail Murashko.
“I would also like to note that, as our colleagues note, the number of children infected with Omicron and requiring treatment, including in hospitals, has increased by about two and a half times,” he explained.
On December 16, 2021, David Nabarro, Special Representative of the World Health Organization for the Fight against COVID-19, said that the number of people infected with the new omicron coronavirus strain is growing rapidly due to its ability to spread “extremely quickly”.
“We have enough information to show very clearly that the omicron is spreading extremely quickly, doubling the number of cases every two to three days,” Nabarro said.
On November 26, WHO designated the B.1.1.529 coronavirus strain found in southern Africa with the Greek letter omicron. The WHO said in a statement that the species “has a large number of mutations, some of which are of concern.” Later laboratory tests confirmedthat the omicron has learned to get away, if not from all, then from a significant part of the antibodies produced after vaccination or a disease caused by previous variants of SARS-CoV-2.
The world epicenter of the spread of the omicron strain is southern Africa. The largest number of those infected with it was detected in South Africa.