Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, described the situation with measles in the Russian Federation. According to her, the situation is gradually becoming more complicated: the foci of the disease have already been identified in 44 regions, but this is not really concerning yet, since such outbreaks can be quickly localized and stopped.
There is no need to introduce system restrictions, Popova said. “Sometimes some measures are needed, but they are local, and can be taken quite easily, without any trouble,” she added.
Measures to respond to measles outbreaks “have been established for a long time,” the head of Rospotrebnadzor also said. This includes immunization of contact persons in the focus of the disease. “We are carrying out clean-up immunization. <…> More than 30% of those who were scheduled for clean-up immunization have already been vaccinated,” she stated. The vaccine used is manufactured domestically.
In addition, Anna Popova mentioned the detection of Arcturus, a new COVID-19 subvariant, in the Russian Federation. This is one of the Omicron mutations, which has a higher contagiousness than the previously identified strains.
