The key facts

  • The new COVID-19 strain PJ.2.1 is highly contagious but comparatively low in pathogenicity, according to MSU virologist Alexey Agranovsky.
  • In his view, quarantine measures to prevent the strain from being brought into Russia are unnecessary.
  • Earlier, the WHO warned about the risk of the strain spreading, while academician Gennady Onishchenko ruled out a new pandemic.

The new strain will not be grounds for quarantine, the virologist believes

The new coronavirus strain PJ.2.1 will not significantly change the disease situation and is not grounds for alarm or the introduction of quarantine. This statement was made in an interview with NSN by Alexey Agranovsky, professor at the Department of Virology of the Faculty of Biology at Moscow State University, as reported by Gazeta.Ru. According to him, a person who has already had a mild case of Omicron will just as easily endure the illness caused by the new strain: PJ.2.1 is not as strong as its predecessors — it is highly contagious but comparatively low in pathogenicity.

Experts' positions differ in details but agree on the main point

Agranovsky emphasized that there are no reasons to introduce quarantine measures to prevent PJ.2.1 from being brought into Russia: the strain may appear in the country at any moment, and the population will quickly develop antibodies. Earlier, on November 1, RAS academician and Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Education Gennady Onishchenko statedthat the strain will not lead to a pandemic, although it may dominate for some time alongside other variants of the virus. Before that, the WHO warned about the risk of PJ.2.1 spreading, already detected on several continents, suggesting that the virus could soon reach Russia or may already be in the country. At the same time, as doctors and scientists noted, this mutation is unlikely to cause a new pandemic, and the illness is no more severe than with previous variants of the virus.

Context

Thus, the assessments of Russian specialists and the WHO warning do not contradict each other: the organization points to the strain's spread between continents, whereas scientists, relying on its properties, expect neither a new pandemic nor a severe course of the illness. Earlier, an epidemiologist explainedhow viruses mutate from season to season.