Some Russian Regions Now have More than Ten Times More Coronavirus Cases Than Last Spring

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 8 – Some regions and republics in the Russian Federation have more than ten times as many coronavirus infections now as they had last spring, with one, the Altay having 43 times as many, an indication of how the pandemic has shifted from the capitals to the countryside (vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2020/11/08/846168-zabolevaemost-vishe).

            Intriguingly, while the forced self-isolation in the capitals pushed pregnancies down, despite predictions to the contrary, the regions beyond the ring road, enforced idleness has the effect of leading to more pregnancies, something that will now lead to more births in the coming weeks and more pressure on hospitals there (kp.ru/daily/2171205.5/4318018/).

            For the third day in a row, new infections totaled more than 20,000. The government registered 20,498 new cases of infection and 334 additional deaths, bringing those tolls for the pandemic as a whole to 1,774,334 and 30,537 respectively (t.me/COVID2019_official/1938 and novayagazeta.ru/news/2020/11/08/165516-v-rossii-tretiy-den-podryad-zafiksirovali-bolee-20-tysyach-novyh-sluchaev-covid-19-za-sutki).

            While the numbers in Moscow have not risen to the multiples of many other regions, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that it was not yet time to speak about the stabilization of the situation there, given rising infections, hospitalizations and deaths (regnum.ru/news/3109512.html).

            New health ministry rules are allowing some coronavirus patients to be sent home before they are found to be fully cured, an action that has sparked concern that this will lead to more deaths and the further spread of the disease (regnum.ru/news/3109527.html, ehorussia.com/new/node/22094 ura.news/news/1052457701).

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

·         Students in several regional capitals picketed to protest being forced to go over to distance learning, arguing that this is reducing the value of their educations (7x7-journal.ru/news/2020/11/08/eto-ne-nastoyashee-obrazovanie-v-rossijskih-regionah-proshli-akcii-protiv-distancionnogo-obucheniya).

·         Russian  officials are announced that 50 countries want to purchase the Russian vaccine, Sputnik-5 (iz.ru/1083787/kseniia-loginova/korona-zhmet-rossiiskuiu-vaktcinu-ot-covid-19-khotiat-kupit-v-50-stranakh).

·         And because ever more people are relying on the Internet, personal computer sales in Russia are booming (vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2020/11/08/846181-kompyuternii-bum).