50,000 Russians Died from Pandemic in July, Rosstat Reports

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 27 – The Russian State Statistical Administration reports that 50,000 Russians died from the coronavirus in July, the highest monthly total since the pandemic began and more than twice the number of fatalities the operational staff has been reporting (rbc.ru/society/27/08/2021/612907859a79479be27a8191 and regnum.ru/news/3355685.html).

            In almost 39,000 of these deaths, the coronavirus was listed as the primary cause of death; in 11,000 more, it was listed as a contributing factor in cases where patients were suffering from other diseases.

            Since July, the death rate for Russia as a whole has continued at an equally high level, but official concern has lessened somewhat because in the last few weeks, there has been a significant decline in the number of deaths in Moscow and St. Petersburg, although less so elsewhere (regnum.ru/news/3355725.html).

            The defense ministry reports today that uniformed personnel are currently suffering only “minimal” numbers of infections and deaths from the coronavirus, although officials offered no specific data on the numbers involved in either category (regnum.ru/news/3355246.html). And Moscow officials said 37 million Russians have now completed their shots (regnum.ru/news/3355709.html).

            Today, the operational staff reported registering 19.509 new cases of infection and 798 new deaths from the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, as the pandemic continued to ebb and flow across the country (t.me/stopcoronavirusrussia/5680 and regnum.ru/news/society/3352534.html).

            And despite Kremlin claims that shortages of vaccine and other drugs have been overcome, leaks from a closed meeting at the health ministry said that the government is currently trying to deal with shortages of coronavirus-related medicine in nine federal subjects (ura.news/news/1052501776).

            Meanwhile, in other pandemic-related developments in Russia today,

·         Officials in Voronezh Oblast are not allowing people to get married unless both parties can prove that they have been vaccinated (maximonline.ru/guide/bez-privivki-ot-kovida-teper-dazhe-ne-zhenitsya-populyarnye-i-strannye-ogranicheniya-dlya-antiprivivochnikov-v-rossii-id676314/).

·         Thailand has lifted travel restrictions on Russians who have received the Sputnik-5 vaccine (znak.com/2021-08-27/tayland_pustit_turistov_privityh_sputnik_v_nachata_vydacha_razresheniy_na_vezd).

·         And promoters say that Russians are holding five million tickets to concerts and shows that had to be cancelled because of the pandemic and waiting for refunds of the rescheduling of these events. The amount of money involved is around eight billion rubles (120 million US dollars) (nakanune.ru/articles/117493/).