Russia reports cases of more contagious COVID-19 variant - reports

MOSCOW: Russia has reported some COVID-19 infections with a new coronavirus variant believed to be even more contagious than the Delta one, the RIA news agency said on Thursday.

It is possible that the AY.4.2 variant will spread widely, RIA quoted the state consumer watchdog's senior researcher Kamil Khafizov as saying.

That could cause the rate of new COVID-19 cases, already at record highs in Russia, to rise even further.