OREANDA-NEWS. The first cases of the Omicron strain of coronavirus have been detected in Mongolia. This was announced on Friday, January 7, by Tsolmon Bilagtsaikhan, director general of the country's National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

"Ten peacekeepers and two Mongolian citizens who arrived by flights Istanbul-Ulaanbaatar and Bangkok-Ulaanbaatar have been confirmed to be infected with the Omicron strain,"- he was quoted as saying by MONCAME.

Earlier in the day, the WHO reported a new record daily increase in COVID-19 cases. Thus, according to the organisation, the coronavirus infection has been detected in 2,618,130 people worldwide in the past 24 hours.

It was noted that this was the highest daily rate in the organisation's statistics since the pandemic. WHO also updated the corresponding anti-record for the third consecutive day.

On 3 January the technical director of the Danish Public Health Authority (SSI), Tira Grove Krause, suggested that the spread of the Omicron strain COVID-19 could hasten the end of the pandemic.

On December 30, Rospotrebnadzor head Anna Popova said the Omicron strain of the coronavirus is 3-5 times more contagious than other variants of the infection. She also noted that the first manifestations of the disease in those infected with this strain are observed as early as 3-5 days after infection.

In addition, the head of the agency said that almost all those hospitalized with the Omicron strain in South Africa had not been vaccinated against COVID-19, had not had it before or had comorbidities including endocrine and oncological diseases.

On 28 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted the high ability of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to fight the Omicron strain.