Moscow Officials Caught Off Guard by Sharp Upsurge in Coronavirus Cases in City

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 9 – Moscow officials did not expect and were not prepared for the sharp upsurge in the number of cases of coronavirus in recent days and have been scrambling to increase the number of available hospital beds, tighten mask restrictions, and bring vaccinations to people in their workplaces (meduza.io/feature/2021/06/09/vlasti-moskvy-ne-ozhidali-rezkogo-rosta-zabolevaemosti-koronavirusom-v-gorode-ekstrenno-raskonserviruyut-dve-kovidnye-bolnitsy, meduza.io/news/2021/06/09/v-moskve-usilyat-kontrol-za-nosheniem-masok-i-perchatok, regnum.ru/news/3292830.html and msk.kp.ru/daily/27289/4426544/).

            But Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin says that despite the deterioration in the epidemiological situation, he has no plans to reintroduce a lockdown and believes that the combination of vaccinations and other restrictions will be sufficient to weather the current problems (bfm.ru/news/474048).

            Today, for the first time since March 7, Russian officials reported that they had registered more than 10,000 new cases of coronavirus infection (10,407) led by upsurges in the two capitals and Russia east of the Urals. In addition, they reported 399 new deaths from the virus over the last 24 hours (https://t.me/COVID2019_official/3031).

            On the vaccine front, KPRF deputy Aleksey Korniyenko says that immunization is voluntary “only on paper” because employers are forcing their workers to get the vaccine on pain of losing their jobs (regnum.ru/news/3291924.html). And in Daghestan, where immunization is the lowest in the country, Makhchakala has said regional officials will lose their jobs if they don’t raise vaccination rates (regnum.ru/news/3292157.html and regnum.ru/news/3292135.html).

            Meanwhile, in other pandemic-related developments in Russia,

·         Russian tourism officials say restrictions on flights to Turkey will be lifted by next month (nakanune.ru/news/2021/6/9/22604805/).

·         Controversy over whether EkiVakKorona is an effective vaccine or even should be called a vaccine at all continues to flare with the Russian government insisting it is and should be and some epidemiologists challenging it on both counts (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/06/09/zavalit-antitelami).

·         And Aleksandr Myasnikov, chief doctor of Moscow Clinical Hospital No. 71, says that the coronavirus will never disappear but rather appear again and again in new waves as the virus itself evolves (regnum.ru/news/3292426.html).