Paul Goble
Staunton, October 31 – Because of the pandemic, Moscow officials have cancelled the Red Square parades traditionally held on November 4 and 7 (regnum.ru/news/3104277.html), a highly symbolic move that has convinced more Russians that the regime, denials notwithstanding, will likely restore the lockdown (rosbalt.ru/posts/2020/10/30/1870790.html).
The statistics continue to be dire, with the authorities registering 18,140 new cases of infection and 334 new deaths over the last 24 hours alone (znak.com/2020-10-31/v_rossii_za_sutki_chislo_bolnyh_covid_19_vyroslo_na_18140_chelovek).
In some places, the flood of new patients is so great that there isn’t time for doctors to treat them, pathologists to identify the problems, and gravediggers to do their work (znak.com/2020-10-31/mediki_ne_uspevayut_lechit_patologoanatomy_vskryvat_mogilchikb_kopat_reportazh_iz_kurgana_stavshego).
The pandemic continues to spread both in Moscow and environments and in regions far from the Russian capital with closures and restrictions vastly outnumbering re-openings and a loosening of controls (regnum.ru/news/society/3101964.html).
In Moscow, more emergency hospitals are being set up (echo.msk.ru/blog/day_video/2734310-echo/).
In Moscow Oblast, the authorities are restricting government operations, restricting those over 65 to their homes, and indicating that they are prepared to take more steps if conditions deteriorate (regnum.ru/news/3104167.html and regnum.ru/news/3104162.html).
Beyond the ring road, hospitals are suffering problems with oxygen and medications (siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/two-intensive-care-covid-19-patients-died-after-oxygen-supply-booth-exploded-at-chelyabinsk-hospital/), and more schools are shifting to distance learning (regnum.ru/news/society/3072297.html and https://ura.news/news/1052456550).
In Pskov Oblast, residents staged a demonstration to protest Putin’s healthcare “optimization” which during the crisis has left them without essential services (7x7-journal.ru/news/2020/10/31/infekcionnoe-otdelenie-ostaetsya-no-v-to-zhe-vremya-net-eto-zhe-bred-zhiteli-pskovskoj-oblasti-vyshli-na-piket-protiv-optimizacii-zdravoohraneniya).
But Russians did get one piece of somewhat good news. The Russian tourism agency predicts their country’s external borders will be open for tourism again, but only in March or April of next year (vestikavkaza.ru/news/ator-rossia-mozet-otkryt-granicy-dla-turistov-v-marte.html).
On the vaccine front, Putin admits that the country is having trouble producing enough vaccine quickly, an acknowledgement that follows earlier reports that even the trials have been slowed by the lack of sufficient medication (en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/64296). Moscow expects the vaccine to end the pandemic and earn Moscow enormous sums of money (business-gazeta.ru/article/486633).
In other vaccine stories, officials acknowledged that the first group of elderly volunteers has been given the first dose of the vaccine, weeks after Moscow announced it was seeking such people (regnum.ru/news/3104001.html); and experts said that many questions about the vaccine remain unanswered (kp.ru/daily/2171202.5/4313692/).
On the economic front, 38 percent said their standard of living had continued to fall during the third quarter, and 23 percent said they expect that trend to continue for some time (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/81253). And in an effort to save themselves, Russians are taking money out of banks and putting it into the stock market in hopes of earning more (ura.news/articles/1036281348).
No comments:
Post a Comment