Pandemic Eases in Russian Capitals, Gets Worse Elsewhere

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 30 – The number of new infections, hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus fell sharply in Moscow and St. Petersburg but increased in many regions of the country including those adjoining the two capitals (sobesednik.ru/zdorove/20210830-rezkii-spad-sutocnyx-pokazatelei-po-zabo and regnum.ru/news/society/3352534.html).

            And while officials in the capitals were celebrating their good fortune, officials in distant regions like Krasnoyarsk Kray and the Sakha Republic were talking about a fourth wave of the pandemic and rising numbers of infections in their federal subjects (regnum.ru/news/3356927.html, regnum.ru/news/3356892.html and regnum.ru/news/3356553.html).

            These regional variations are being highlighted by arrangements officials are making for the first day of school. In Moscow, most teachers have been vaccinated; and teachers and students without temperatures will be allowed to enter schools. Elsewhere, more restrictions are in place, with the unvaccinated being excluded and officials talking about distance learning (regnum.ru/news/3356967.html, regnum.ru/news/3356954.html and vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2021/08/29/884217-minimum-regionov).

            Russian officials reported today registering 18,325 new cases of infection and 792 deaths for the last 24 hours for the country as a whole (t.me/COVID2019_official/3494). Also today, Russian researchers reported that they have come up with yet another coronavirus vaccine which will now be tested (lenta.ru/news/2021/08/30/ispit/).

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

·         Blogger El Murid said that the lack of correspondence between covid statistics issued by various government agencies shows the collapse of the administrative system (pro.rbc.ru/news/6126046b9a79472504bf0086).

·         Russian bankers have seen their incomes soar since the beginning of the pandemic largely because of increased borrowing (ura.news/news/1052502096).

·         And officials in Russian-occupied Crimea have been shutting down websites that provide accurate information about the pandemic while allowing Russians who are carriers of the disease to enter freely (khpg.org/en/1608809480).