The Flirt variant of the coronavirus is not the last, the virus learned to modify itself very quickly, Anna Popova, head of Russia’s consumer protection office, Rospotrebnadzor, said today.

In an interview with the Sputnik news agency, Popova stressed that the virus has the ability to mutate, it has learned to modify itself very quickly, and more and more new genoviruses are appearing, such as FLiRT, which will certainly not be the last.

She also noted that the coronavirus circulation tracking system allows even new isolated variants to be identified.

As part of the federal Health Shield project, Rospotrebnadzor’s sequencing centres conduct molecular genetic studies by studying at least 500-700 samples from all regions of the country every week, Popova said.

She said that the Omicron variant of the virus is still predominant in Russia today.

Earlier, the Russian consumer protection office reported that the Flirt variant was detected in Russia, however, it does not pose a threat because Omicron is still prevalent.

Recently, new subvariants of the FLiRT group have spread globally, one of which, known as KP.2, was first found in January 2024 and to date, has been detected in 27 countries and has accounted for 9.6 percent of all registered cases.