Far More Russians Per Capita have Been Infected with Coronavirus than Most Other Leading Nations

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 14 – There are so many metrics for the pandemic that it is often difficult to tell how well Russia ranks, a fact that Moscow authorities exploit to suggest it is doing better than in fact it is. But a new set of figures suggests that in important ways, Russia is doing far worse despite the country’s lead in the development of a vaccine.

            As of this week, one in every 39 Russians has suffered from covid infection, far more per capita than in the US, where only every 58^th resident has, India where every 75^th has, France where every 57^th has or Great Britain where every 47^th have. Only Brazil where every 36^th resident has become sick has done worse than Russia (rosbalt.ru/blogs/2021/08/14/1915810.html).

            Moreover, these figures show that Russia is doing worse in terms of the spread of infection than most of the former Soviet republics, a comparison that is especially unwelcome for Russians as it represents an indictment of a system where rates of infection are high because public trust in the authorities is so low.

            Today, the Russian authorities reported 22,144 new infections and a record 819 new deaths from the coronavirus over the past 24 hours as  the pandemic continued to spread across the country creating new hotspots and leading to the imposition of more draconian restrictions in some places (t.me/stopcoronavirusrussia/5569, regnum.ru/news/3344581.html and regnum.ru/news/society/3344522.html).

            There was one bright spot in all this. Investigative journalists report that Moscow, which has been able to lift many of the restrictions it imposed because of expanded vaccination rates, is continuing to build more capacity to treat any future wave of covid victims (ura.news/articles/1036282836).

            The Russian government often suggests that other regions of the country should follow Moscow’s example; But unfortunately, while the capital has sufficient resources to do these things, most of the regions don’t and won’t unless the center provides more funds, something it hasn’t shown a willingness to do.