Mutations in the coronavirus are appearing in Siberia, the head of Russia's consumer health watchdog said, 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 under way, Popova confirmed..