“Kraken” in the Penza region
The first case of coronavirus infection of the Kraken omicron subvariable – XBB.1.5 – was recorded in the Penza region “as part of the monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing data uploaded daily to the national VGARus database,” reported Rospotrebnadzor.
The ministry noted that Russia has already created “a wide variety of omicron species varieties”, but the BA.5 variant still predominates among them. And the “delta” that prevailed in the second half of 2021, but in the fall of 2022, was detected only in “individual cases”.
The agency added that its laboratories continue to “continually monitor the circulation of coronavirus variants” in the country and “a number of neighboring states”. Genomic data is uploaded to the national database VGARus. “It already contained 226,000 genome sequences.”
“Today, more than 150 organizations are connected to the system that carries out the sequencing of coronavirus genomes,” said Rospotrebnadzor.
Rospotrebnadzor told the press service TASS that he has no plans to impose restrictions in connection with the discovery of a new sub-variant of the Omicron type Kraken.
Rospotrebnadzor in the Penza region said that the first person infected with “kraken” was 32 years old, living in Penza.
“The patient is 32 years old, lives in Penza, works in the administrative unit of an industrial plant. The patient was not vaccinated. The disease progressed in a mild course and ended with recovery on January 2, 2023.
The day before in the episode reportedAs of January 11, he said, 325.2 million laboratory tests had been carried out for the presence of a new coronavirus in materials taken from humans, including those from countries unfavorable for a new coronavirus infection.
What you need to know about “Kraken”
January 11 episode published Here are seven answers to the most common questions about “kraken”. The press service of Rospotrebnadzor announced that the new type of coronavirus is a “recombinant” subsequence of “omicron”.
“Thanks to the “successful” mutation of the virus itself, the rate of spread is significantly higher than that of all previous strains,” says the answer to the question about the difference between “Kraken” and other “omicron” strains.
According to the agency, this variant of the coronavirus “does not have an increased virulence and is not more difficult to carry than others,” but is spreading rapidly due to its greater contagiousness. In this case, the disease is transmitted by airborne droplets, like other acute respiratory viral infections. As with other strains, children, the elderly and citizens with chronic diseases are at risk.
“Like other species, the Kraken can appear in the Russian Federation, because the borders are open, planes are flying, people are actively moving, and the virus is “trading,” said Rospotrebnadzor.
They concluded that “almost everyone already has some level of immune protection against the coronavirus”, so you shouldn’t “fear” the new strains, but “continue to take personal health safety precautions.”
American subspecies “omicron”
On January 7, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing that “kraken” was first described in the United States in October 2022 (22, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control).
On the same day, WHO expert Maria van Kerkhov said that the omicron strain of “kraken” is the most contagious (infectious) among the currently known sub-variants. He named the reason for this as the mutations in “kraken” enable it “to attach to the cell and be easily replicated”.
“We expect new waves of infections worldwide, but this should not lead to new waves of deaths, because our countermeasures (against COVID – socialbites.ca) continue to work,” said Van Kerkhove, adding that the organization is concerned. “kraken” spread especially in Europe, USA and some countries of North America.
January 6 The Wall Street Journal warned“kraken” is spreading rapidly in the USA after the winter holidays. The article says that the XBB.1.5 subtype is recorded in 40.5% of coronavirus infection cases each week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And two weeks before the New Year, this figure was only around 10%.
Journalists announced that large numbers of “kraken” cases have been detected, particularly in the northeastern United States – in the states of Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and New York – where the incidence has reached three-quarters of cases. .
On January 7, immunologist Nikolai Kryuchkov, PhD, Managing Director of Clinical Excellence Group, a drug registration and research company, told Lente.ru that “kraken” could spread widely in Russia in the coming months.
According to the expert, the new subspecies of “omicron” are unlikely to dominate the world, they will only exist in parallel with other subspecies.
“In different parts of the world, there may be two or three dominant lines, each of which is dominant. This is not the same as when alpha or beta lines appear,” the immunologist says.
He also suggested that Russia would have a “standard wave of coronavirus cases” from the end of January, but that would not be associated with a “kraken” appearance.