The President of the Russian Academy of Sciences admitted the artificial origin of the omicron strain

President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Alexander Sergeev admitted that the new omicron coronavirus strain could not mutate on its own.

“The strain turned out to be very interesting, and, above all, it turned out to be interesting due to the incomprehensibility of how it happened. Such a gigantic number of mutations in comparison with the “delta” -strain “, – said the scientist.

“Now one gets the impression that the virus really was in such a state when it was forced to mutate in order for it to take on such a new look,” Sergeev told reporters, quoted by Interfax.

He suggested that the omicron mutations could be associated with the testing of a drug to combat the delta strain. “The virus, which came under the pressure of such new drugs, really mutated a lot, and it turned out what happened,” Sergeev said.

Earlier, virologist Pyotr Chumakov said that he does not exclude the possibility of an artificial origin of the coronavirus. “This is not just a mutation. They collected all the mutations that were known that were already encountered in this virus spontaneously, that is, when it evolved … They collected all these mutations in one strain, moreover, they also introduced there an insert of three amino acids that are characteristic of the coronavirus season … How it could arise like this independently in this strain – no one can explain it, ”explained the virologist. He believes that it could have been done in the UK. “Now just such a moment has come when, for some political reason, they decided to quickly wrap up the pandemic,” says the virologist.

At the same time, colleagues of specialists argue that there is nothing surprising in the appearance of a new insert. Mikhail Shchelkanov, director of the Somov Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Rospotrebnadzor, noted that insertions and deletions of several amino acid residues are easily formed in all coronaviruses. The variability and plasticity of the coronavirus indirectly speaks in favor of the theory of its natural origin, said the virologist, professor at Moscow State University, Doctor of Biological Sciences Alexei Agranovsky.

Pulmonologist Sergei Puryasev said that the omicron strain could acquire such a number of mutations due to the fact that it developed in immunocompromised HIV-infected patients. “In particular, in South Africa. They are practically all amazed there. Therefore, the virus developed there, one might say, in greenhouse conditions. And due to this, he can be very aggressive and cause pneumonia, because he did not meet any resistance anywhere. That is, they have no antibodies, HIV-infected people, and, as a result, this virus grew like Christ’s in the bosom. Because he became very fast. Apparently, there he has these spike proteins, thorns, maybe more than it should be, their antibodies were not cut off during mutations, ”the doctor said.

Recall that the omicron strain was identified at the end of November in South Africa. By now, it has spread in different countries, including Russia. The head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, stressed that the department is observing the rapid development of the situation in Great Britain, in Africa, where more than 75% of cases detected every day are accounted for by omicron. “The growth rates are frightening in their danger and risk,” she stressed.