COVID-19 Cases Rise in Russia and China, Forcing Countries to Take Action to Stop Expansion | International | News

In Russia they began a week of paid vacations while in China there are confinements of millions of people.

This weekend, a week of paid holidays began in Russia for all the population in order to stop the advance of the coronavirus pandemic, which added almost a million new cases of COVID in October.

At the same time, the Chinese capital tightens its sanitary restrictions, while the country faces an epidemic outbreak of the “serious and complex” virus, less than 100 days before the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In Russia, the last day 40,993 cases were identified in the 85 regions of the country, a new record since the start of the pandemic, according to data published by the operational center to fight the coronavirus.

In the last 24 hours, the highest number of new cases were observed in the capital, with 7,603 infections, followed by Saint Petersburg (3,597) and the Moscow region (2,737)

The almost 41,000 new cases bring the figure for the month to 978,242 infections.

Russia accumulates 8,513,790 cases of covid-19 so far in the pandemic, making it the fifth country in the world with the most infections behind the US, India, Brazil and the United Kingdom.

On October 1, it accumulated 7,535,548 infections.

In addition, on the last day 1,158 patients died in Russia from the infectious disease, according to data published by the operational center to fight the coronavirus.

A total of 94 patients died in Moscow, 82 in St. Petersburg and 43 in the Moscow region.

So far this pandemic 238,538 people have died in Russia, although official statistics on excess deaths double this figure.

In contrast, 7,358,539 patients have been recovered so far throughout the period.

The Russian authorities attribute the sharp increase in new infections to the aggressiveness of the delta variant, the lack of strict compliance with sanitary rules by many Russians and, above all, the low vaccination rate in the country.

So far in the nation that was a pioneer when it comes to registering its own anticovid vaccine, 50,960,796 citizens have received the complete guideline, which places herd immunity at only 46.8%.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said yesterday that, however, the number of people vaccinated has practically quadrupled in the last week and a half.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, which will become the first city in the world to host the winter Olympic competition next February, the authorities, who follow a zero tolerance policy against the smallest case of COVID-19, have resorted to radical measures to eradicate an epidemic outbreak for the very limited time, with less than 300 cases, collects AFP.

At least 14 provinces have been affected, out of the total of 30 in the country, and the virus reached Beijing ten days ago.

To curb the contagion, all cinemas in the Xicheng district will be closed until November 14, as ordered by the municipality.

This district, which groups together neighborhoods west of Tiananmen Square, has one million inhabitants.

This decision comes when China reported 59 new locally-sourced covid cases nationwide this Saturday, a record number since mid-September.

Among them, there are two more cases in the Chinese capital.

These figures, which may seem low compared to those recorded in other parts of the world, are causing the authorities to redouble their vigilance in the face of the Winter Olympics, which will begin on February 4.

The new focus of the epidemic is more than 650 kilometers from Beijing, in the city of Erenhot, near the border with Mongolia.

The spread of COVID-19 can be controlled “in less than a month,” said virologist Zhong Nanshan, one of the leading experts in the fight against the disease in the Asian country.

As a precautionary measure, some six million Chinese are confined in cities where cases have been detected.

Entry to many regions is conditional on submitting a negative test, especially for travelers from areas where infections have recently been reported.

On Friday, the Beijing authorities canceled hundreds of flights and asked its citizens to postpone weddings and hold shorter funerals, after tightening containment measures to curb new outbreaks of the virus.

The proportion of severe cases is also higher than in previous epidemic outbreaks, said a health ministry official, Guo Yanhong. According to her, 40% of the patients are over 60 years old.

Colombia begins to vaccinate children between 3 and 11 years old

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Colombian health authorities began this Sunday to apply the vaccine against the virus from the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac to children between 3 and 11 years old at different vaccination points in cities and towns. from the country.

After the publication of Resolution 1738 of 2021 by the Ministry of Health, the local authorities opened the vaccination and many parents arrived with their children, some of whom were disguised for the celebration of Halloween.

With this new phase, in Colombia it only remains to enable vaccination for children under three years of age.

The Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, explained on Friday that the objective of vaccinating children is “to reduce the contagion to their families and to achieve such important issues as their safe return to classrooms under all risk prevention conditions. ”.

He also said that children will receive two doses, the second 28 days after the application of the first. (I)

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