Russia's foreign ministry has tweeted a video of the team's arrival, adding that the plane was also carrying a mobile laboratory.

https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/status/1470644774122274818

The arrival comes days after South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa invited experts from different countries to join the country's scientists to study the new variant and its mutation.

South Africa has seen a rise in coronavirus infections which have been attributed to the Omricon variant, which was first detected in the country last month.