Coronavirus: dominant strain in Russia came from Europe after Chinese border was closed
- Researchers in Moscow and St Petersburg find that most Covid-19 cases are linked to infections that came in from the west
- Closing Chinese border early meant only 2 per cent of cases were from strains dominant in Asia
The dominant strains of the coronavirus in Russia came from Europe instead of China due to the timely closure of the China-Russia border, scientists have said.
The study of over 200 viral samples obtained in March and April by researchers in Moscow and St Petersburg concluded the first identified cases were linked to China.
But while early border closures with China prevented further transmission, strains that later came from Europe triggered a wider outbreak, according to the team led by Georgii Bazykin, a professor at Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow.
The paper, which is the first study of Covid-19 genomic epidemiology in Russia, was posted on the preprint service medRxiv.org on Friday and has yet to be peer-reviewed.
Russia has the fourth largest number of confirmed cases in the world, which stood at over 777,400 on Monday, according to statistics from the World Health Organisation, including more than 12,000 deaths.