Russia Says Virus Mutations Appearing in Siberia as Deaths Hit Record Daily High

FILE PHOTO: Medical specialists wearing protective gear push a stretcher while relocating a non-transparent bag, which presumably contains a human body, outside a hospital for patients infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia May 12, 2020. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Medical specialists wearing protective gear push a stretcher while relocating a non-transparent bag, which presumably contains a human body, outside a hospital for patients infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia May 12, 2020. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva/File Photo
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Russia Says Virus Mutations Appearing in Siberia as Deaths Hit Record Daily High

FILE PHOTO: Medical specialists wearing protective gear push a stretcher while relocating a non-transparent bag, which presumably contains a human body, outside a hospital for patients infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia May 12, 2020. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Medical specialists wearing protective gear push a stretcher while relocating a non-transparent bag, which presumably contains a human body, outside a hospital for patients infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia May 12, 2020. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva/File Photo

Mutations in the coronavirus are appearing in Siberia, the head of Russia's consumer health watchdog said on Tuesday, as the country reported a record daily high of 442 deaths from COVID-19.

"We see certain changes...in Siberia which allow us to assume that in this region it is forming its own version with specific mutations," Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor, was quoted as saying by news agencies.

Popova did not give details on how contagious or deadly the mutation was considered to be but said it would not make the virus more dangerous, Reuters reported.

Post-registration trials of Russia's second COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Siberia's Vector Institute, were now underway, Popova confirmed. Authorities said last week they were due to begin last Sunday.

Mutations of the coronavirus could not influence the vaccine's effectiveness, the Vector Institute's director general, Rinat Maksyutov, was quoted as saying by TASS.

A US study in September found little evidence that mutations in the virus have made it deadlier, saying that the severity of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, was more strongly linked to patients' underlying medical conditions and genetics.

Clinical trials of the vaccine, called EpiVacCorona, could now be carried out with volunteers over the age of 60, a state register showed and the institute's director said trials with children would begin in December, TASS reported.

A six-month Phase III trial started on Monday, involving 180 participants, according to the register.

In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin extended a remote learning period for secondary school children from classes 6-11 by two more weeks to Dec. 6, a restriction he said had been effective in preventing the spread of the virus from young people to elderly relatives.

The city's health department said on Monday it had sent doctors to the Urals city of Yekaterinburg to help with the fight against COVID-19 there, something it did for other regions during the first wave of the virus in May.

With 1,971,013 infections since the start of the pandemic, Russia has the fifth largest number of cases in the world behind the United States, India, Brazil and France. Russia's national death toll stands at 33,931.



Pro-Palestinian Activists Charged with Damaging Planes at UK Air Base are Held in Custody

An activist from Palestine Action sprays a military aircraft engine with red paint at RAF Brize Norton, to damage it, in Carterton, Britain, June 20, 2025, in this still image obtained from handout video. The group's action was in protest of British military assistance to Israel, claiming that they, "interrupted Britain's direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East", stating on their website. Palestine Action/Handout via REUTERS/File photo
An activist from Palestine Action sprays a military aircraft engine with red paint at RAF Brize Norton, to damage it, in Carterton, Britain, June 20, 2025, in this still image obtained from handout video. The group's action was in protest of British military assistance to Israel, claiming that they, "interrupted Britain's direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East", stating on their website. Palestine Action/Handout via REUTERS/File photo
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Pro-Palestinian Activists Charged with Damaging Planes at UK Air Base are Held in Custody

An activist from Palestine Action sprays a military aircraft engine with red paint at RAF Brize Norton, to damage it, in Carterton, Britain, June 20, 2025, in this still image obtained from handout video. The group's action was in protest of British military assistance to Israel, claiming that they, "interrupted Britain's direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East", stating on their website. Palestine Action/Handout via REUTERS/File photo
An activist from Palestine Action sprays a military aircraft engine with red paint at RAF Brize Norton, to damage it, in Carterton, Britain, June 20, 2025, in this still image obtained from handout video. The group's action was in protest of British military assistance to Israel, claiming that they, "interrupted Britain's direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East", stating on their website. Palestine Action/Handout via REUTERS/File photo

Four pro-Palestinian protesters were held in custody Thursday after their first appearance in a London court on charges they damaged two Royal Air Force planes with red paint and crowbars.

The charges come after the group Palestine Action said two of its members entered RAF Brize Norton on June 20 and used electric scooters to approach two Voyager jets used for air-to-air refueling. The protesters used repurposed fire extinguishers to spray paint into the planes’ jet engines and caused further damage with crowbars, according to the group, which released video footage of the incident, The AP news reported.

The four, all between the ages of 22 and 35, are charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and conspiracy to enter a prohibited place for purposes prejudicial to the interests of the UK, counterterror police said in a statement. The Crown Prosecution Service will argue that the offenses have a “terrorist connection,” police said.

The group did not enter pleas in Westminster Magistrates’ Court. They were scheduled to appear July 18 at the Central Criminal Court.

Palestine Action has claimed responsibility for a series of incidents targeting Israeli defense contractors in the UK and other sites linked to the war in Gaza.

Following the incident at RAF Brize Norton, the government introduced legislation to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. The measure, being debated in Parliament, would make it a criminal offense to belong to or support the group, with a maximum of 14 years in prison.

Palestine Action said its protests are designed to end international support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Planes from Brize Norton, 70 miles (112 kilometers) northwest of London, regularly fly to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Britain’s main air base for operations in the Middle East.