Covid Infections, Hospitalizations and Deaths All Up Across Russian Federation

Paul Goble     

            Staunton, Sept. 30 – Today, for the third day in a row, Russian officials reported registering a record number of covid deaths since the start of the pandemic (867). They also reported the highest daily rate of new infections since July with increases in 56 of the country’s federal subjects. And they said that hospitalizations for the disease were up as well (t.me/COVID2019_official/3612, regnum.ru/news/society/3379238.html,  regnum.ru/news/3385749.html, regnum.ru/news/3385565.html, regnum.ru/news/3385576.html and regnum.ru/news/3385749.html).

            Medical experts suggest that one of the reasons for this intensification of the disease is its spread among unvaccinated children who may not show symptoms but serve as carriers to others who then suffer. They called for special measures to be taken to protect against this (mk.ru/social/2021/09/30/novym-drayverom-pandemii-koronavirusa-stali-deti.html).

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

·         Officials announced that more than 49 million Russian citizens have received at least the first dose of a vaccine (regnum.ru/news/3385731.html).

·         The health ministry said that clinical trials of Sputnik-5 which has already been put in general use have been completed (regnum.ru/news/3385742.html). At the same time, the developers of Russia’s first privately developed vaccine say that it has passed tests on animals with flying colors (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/09/30/u-zhivotnykh-ne-bylo-ostrykh-toksicheskikh-effektov).

·         Officials in Sakha, one of the hotspots, announced that half of all employees there have been shifted to distance work (regnum.ru/news/3385421.html).

·         Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that no decisions have been taken at the federal level regarding restrictions on those who are not vaccinated (regnum.ru/news/3385679.html).

·         Peskov also says that no staffers who work closely with Vladimir Putin have suffered from serious consequences from covid infections (regnum.ru/news/3385696.html).

·         Moscow hospitals are now testing all patients who come in with the flu for possible infection with the coronavirus (sovsekretno.ru/news/v-moskve-patsientov-s-orvi-obyazhut-sdavat-test-na-antigen-k-covid-19/).