Weekly incidence of COVID-19 in Russia increased by almost 33%

The number of Russians who fell ill with COVID per 100,000 people per week increased by 32.7%, according to the operational headquarters for combating coronavirus.

“The incidence rate of a new coronavirus infection over the past week per 100,000 people was 41.4 and increased by 32.7% compared to the previous week,” the report says.

During the day, 8084 cases were detected in Russia, 450 people were hospitalized. 40 people died, 5010 recovered.

An increase in the incidence was recorded in 83 regions of the country. The number of hospitalized rose by 21.1% compared to the previous week.

On February 5, the operational headquarters reported that the number of cases of COVID-19 infection for the week was almost a third higher than the previous week and reached a maximum since October last year. According to the headquarters, from January 30 to February 5, 58,323 new cases of infection were detected against 44,264 a week earlier. The growth was 31.8%.

In January, the first case of infection with the kraken subtype of coronavirus (XBB.1.5) was detected in Russia. The disease of a 32-year-old resident of Penza proceeded in a mild form, she did not get vaccinated against coronavirus. The second case of infection with this sub-variant of COVID-19 was recorded in early February.

Rospotrebnadzor called the active spread of the "kraken" unlikely. There are no plans to impose restrictions, the service assured.

On January 13, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, announced that the organization's specialists had begun working on a vaccine that would be effective against this subvariant. He clarified that the creation of the drug will take two to three months.