Rospotrebnadzor head urged Russians to spend New Year's holidays at home

Due to the spread of the omicron strain of coronavirus in the world, it is better to spend the New Year holidays at home and not travel abroad. This was stated by the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova.

"Today, many citizens are planning their trips, planning their holidays. Now it is obvious that it is better to do this at home. The situation evolves differently from country to country, and the response may vary. Currently, there is a risk of getting a new infection, a new variant of the strain, and there is a risk of staying somewhere for quite a long time by the decision of this or that country. Therefore, I believe that it is better to spend the New Year holidays at home, inside the country, without leaving or crossing its borders, and I very much ask the citizens of the Russian Federation about this," she said.

In the meantime, a two-week quarantine has been introduced in Russia for those who have returned from countries with the risk of omicron. This applies to tourists from South Africa, several other African countries, the UK, and China. Due to the peculiarities of the omicron strain, the duration of the PCR test will be reduced from 72 to 48 hours.

A new strain of coronavirus was recorded in mid-November in South Africa. So far, there are hundreds of infected people in the world in 20 countries of the world. WHO recognized the new strain as "of concern" at an emergency meeting and named it "omicron": after the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. According to health care professionals, new disease manifestations include a rapid heart rate and extreme fatigue, while patients do not have the typical loss of taste or smell.

Author: Stanislav Shakhov