A "stop covid" sign is seen during the Proryv extreme sports festival in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 5, 2020. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/Xinhua)

 

A total of 1,424 COVID-19 mutations have been detected in Russia, but none of them are linked to the highly infectious new strain recently reported in Britain, said Anna Popova, head of the country's consumer rights and human well-being watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, on Tuesday.

"This is common routine work. None of these mutations are associated with changes in the properties of the virus, including its transmissibility and pathogenicity," Popova said during a meeting of the Russian government coordination council on curbing coronavirus infections.