Russia acknowledged ‘explosive’ spread of COVID-19 cases with Delta variant

Worsened by the spread of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, Russia warned of ‘explosive’ spread of coronavirus infections as country leads slow vaccination campaign.

In addition to recognizing the exponential growth of infections in all Russian regions, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova called for stricter restrictive measures and an acceleration of the vaccination strategy.

“Last week, the death rate from Covid rose 21.3% from previous months,” Golikova said, as the country records thousands of new cases and hundreds of deaths every 24 hours.

Covid death rate increased by 21.3% last week

These data are given after the country has decided on compulsory vaccination for certain categories of the population., and when the strong regrowth is explained by the Delta variant, very virulent.

The president himself, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly asked the Russians to be vaccinated with the Sputnik V vaccine, an inoculant that faces a certain mistrust and reluctance on the part of the population. However, presidential demands did not flow even among Russians and only 15% of the population agreed to receive an injection.

Another confirmation of the bad timing for health were statements by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, who has taken a leading role in Russia’s response to the pandemic. Sobyanin agreed, saying “the situation has become explosive”

The Moscow quartermaster on June 16, like other regions, has since announced compulsory vaccination for certain population groups. Starting with Saint Petersburg, which, host of the European Football Championship, recorded a thousand cases on Monday, June 21 for the first time since February. From Sakhalin in the far east of the country to Tver in the west, ten regions, out of a total of 85, they have very tough programs in place to get people to get vaccinated.

Even with three other vaccines available and the use of the Gamaleya Institute’s Sputnik V development available in some 70 countries, any restrictive or mandatory measures are rejected by citizens.

According to genome sequence studies, Sobyanin also clarified that the Delta variant, which originated in India, accounts for nearly 90% of new cases in Moscow. With this picture of the situation, more than 50,000 new infections have been recorded in the Russian capital, epicenter of the epidemic, over the past two weeks, calling it a high pandemic.

Russian capital had to reimpose health measures, but not as severe as last year’s blockade: closure of public spaces, restrictions in bars, restaurants and shopping centers, in addition to the limitation of events that bring together more than 1,000 people. The limits, as in the rest of the country, are faced with economic deterioration, lack of products, inflation, a panorama that increases social discontent among Russians.

Since the vaccine is free, the rejection is worrying. Since December, only 20.6 million out of a population of around 146 million have received at least one dose of a vaccineaccording to the Gogov site, which counts COVID 19 figures from regions and media.

According to official figures, Russia is among the countries worst affected by the pandemic, with the sixth highest number of cases in the world.

On a national level, Yesterday, the country recorded 17,303 new cases and 539 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Last weekend, mortality from Covid-19 increased by 14% in two days. These data lead the authorities to call, almost in a tone of urgency, for The Russians change their mistrust and decide to get vaccinated to stop this great epidemic.

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