Russia develops new COVID-19 variants detection kit

By Dmitri Chircu

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia has developed a testing kit that detects new variants of the coronavirus, the head of the Russian consumer health watchdog said Thursday.

Anna Popova, the director of Rospotrebnadzor, told Russian television channel, Perviy, that the kit is simple to use and detects virus variants in approximately 40 minutes.

Russia reported 19,138 daily infections and 575 deaths Thursday.

Approximately 3.8 million patients have been infected in Russia since the beginning of the pandemic while the death toll stands at 71,651.

*Writing by Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak