Russia expecting rise in Covid incidence due to new Omicron sub-variants - Popova

MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) - Russia is expecting Covid cases to increase because of new Omicron sub-variants which are spreading without causing more severe symptoms or more beds taken up by patients, the head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor), Anna Popova, said.

"With the appearance of new sub-variants of the Omicron strain we will see a rise in new cases, as we already do in the capital, but the new sub-variants do not lead to a more severe progression of the illness, to an increase in the number of occupied beds, " Popova was quoted on the website of the Nizhny Novgorod regional government as telling governor Gleb Nikitin at their meeting on Thursday.

"At the same time, our readiness for new challenges must be high," she said.

Earlier, Rospotrebnadzor said that Russia was seeing an increase in the proportion of the new, highly contagious BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants in the Omicron strain. However, severe cases and hospitalizations were unlikely to increase substantially, it said. The current rise in Covid cases does not require introducing any counter-epidemic restrictions in Russia.