Russia: Sputnik V protects against all known coronavirus strains, developer says

Sputnik V

MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/: Anti-bodies developed after using the Sputnik V vaccine protect against all known coronavirus strains, Head of the vaccine’s developer, the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Alexander Gintsburg told Rossiya-1 on Sunday.

"The anti-bodies as a result of using Sputnik V protect against all strains known today, ranging from the British to the Delta Indian strain," Gintsburg said.

He noted that Indian strain of COVID-19 causes a more rapid transition from mild symptoms to more serious types of the disease.

"It [Indian strain] is more aggressive, it reduces the time of a transition from mild symptoms to serious forms of the disease, thus cutting the time of a possible emergence of one’s own antibodies," Gintsburg said.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, some 178.2 mln people have been infected worldwide, and more than 3.8 mln have died. To date, Russia has registered 5,316,826 COVID-19 cases, while 4,869,972 people have recovered and 129,361 have died. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.