The number of Covid-19 infected and virus victims is growing rapidly in Russia / Article

Russia has seen the largest increase in the number of Covid-19 cases since January, and for the third day in a row, an unprecedented number of Covid-19 deaths has been registered. Another 672 people died last day. Health experts say the real numbers could be even higher.

The rapid spread of the virus in Russia is due both to the fact that less than 16% of the population have received the vaccine against the virus and to the rapid spread of the virus delta.

“The problem is that there are now more patients with more serious symptoms, so resuscitation beds are urgently needed,” says Irina Chilkina, an infectious disease doctor at Domodedovo Hospital.

One of the biggest foci of the virus is St. Petersburg, where, despite the spread of the virus, the quarter-finals of the European Football Championship (Spain-Switzerland) will take place on Friday.

There are also a lot of patients in the capital Moscow. The mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin, is now calling on those who received the first dose of the vaccine six months ago, as well as those who fell ill with Covid-19, to be revaccinated.

Sobyanin says the vaccine is needed every six months to boost immunity to the virus until crowd immunity is achieved in the community. Later, you can get vaccinated every 12 months.

Vaccination is given with both Sputnik V, which requires two doses, and Sputnik Light, where one dose is sufficient. Until now, the population in Russia has been skeptical about vaccination, less than 16% of the population has been vaccinated. Consequently, crowd immunity has not yet been achieved.

The slow pace of vaccination, as well as the prevalence of the contagious delta type, are the reasons why the number of infected and victims has increased significantly in recent weeks.

In Russia, restrictions vary depending on local government decisions. For example, in the Krasnodar region, where the popular Black Sea resort town of Sochi is located, only vaccinated guests or those with a negative Covid-19 test will be admitted from Thursday. Everyone will need to submit an online QR code.

The Ministry of the Interior warns that forged certificates are subject to criminal liability. So far, there have been 24 cases where someone has tried to forge these documents. In Russia, it is threatened with imprisonment for up to two years.

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