MOSCOW, March 16 (Reuters) – Russia has identified two cases of the new variant of the coronavirus first detected in South Africa, consumer health regulator Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement on Tuesday.

Since the start of the pandemic, Russia has reported more than 4 million COVID-19 cases and over 90,000 deaths.

Rospotrebnadzor said Russia had also now found 28 cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in Britain. It reported the first case of that strain in January. (Reporting by Maxim Rodionov; Writing by Alexander Marrow Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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