Russia reported 25,000 new cases of COVID, highest daily number in six months

Russia registered this sunday 25,142 new cases of COVID-19, its worst toll of daily infections since early January, in the midst of a deadly third wave linked to the arrival of the contagious variant Delta.

The explosive rebound in infections in recent weeks has triggered the death toll, which has doubled from in early June. This week, Russia continued five consecutive days with record daily deaths from COVID-19, reaching 697 deaths on Saturday. As of Sunday, the death toll from the coronavirus was 663.

The country has been submerged since mid-June in its third wave of the virus, driven by the contagious variant Delta and the slowness of the vaccination campaign because of the public’s mistrust of vaccines.

Russia is one of the hardest-hit countries in the world and the worst in Europe, with at least 137,925 dead and 5.6 million people infected, according to the official toll.

However, the statistical agency Rosstat it brought the death toll to 270,000 at the end of April.

Some experts assure that Russian authorities cut death toll from pandemic by counting only cases in which the virus was found to be the leading cause of death during an autopsy.

Moscow, the main focus of this wave, recorded 7,624 new cases and 111 deaths.

Despite the worsening epidemic situation, the Russian authorities have so far ruled out the establishment of containments or the paralysis of economic activities. However, President Vladimir Putin urged citizens again to “listen to the experts” and get vaccinated instead of paying attention to rumors circulating about vaccines.

Suspicions about Russian vaccines defy their authorities to the point that the Moscow mayor’s office has imposed compulsory vaccination for workers in the service sector.

The Russian epidemic seems to affect its neighbors in Central Asia like Kazakhstan, which reported a record of daily infections this Sunday (3,003), or Tajikistan, which admitted in June to have detected cases of COVID-19 for the first time in more than five months. .

On Saturday, the latter country decreed compulsory vaccination against COVID-19 for all citizens aged 18 and over.

Russia, with 5,610,941 cases, is the fifth country in the world by number of infections recorded, after the United States, India, Brazil and France.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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