Low vaccination and spikes in deaths: Russia experiences worst time due to growth of Delta variant

Russia faces rise in new cases authorities attribute to highly infectious Delta variant and slow population vaccination. The country is at critical times due to the pandemic, while the capital, Moscow, has reached death records.

The country, with 90% of the Delta variant in circulation and limited vaccination, has one of the worst death rates from the pandemic, warned prestigious North American researcher, geneticist and cardiologist Eric Topol, current editor-in-chief. from Medscape.

The authorities of Moscow has recorded 114 deaths from coronavirus Sunday, the highest daily death toll in the Russian capital since March 2020.

That’s 16 more deaths than on June 25, when the previous fatal record was set. In all, 22,086 people have died from covid-19 in the Russian capital since the start of the pandemic.

In addition, the positives at the national level stood at 21,665, including 8,457 in Moscow, epicenter of the pandemic since March 2021.

According to Topol, behind this increase in the number of deaths lies the Delta variant and the limited vaccination campaigns.

Faced with this rebound, Moscow reintroduced restrictions such as mandatory teleworking, the creation of a health pass to go to restaurants or the imposition of vaccines in the service sector, but he is not yet considering strict containment.

The mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin admitted that the new strains, whose incubation period is a few days, are at the origin of the current rebound, since that of Wuhan affects less than 5% of cases.

“The situation is such that we are suffering from the pandemic again. The epidemic … is raging in Moscow. We hospitalize nearly two thousand patients a day“, He warned and admitted that the workload in the city’s hospitals has doubled.

And he insisted that “To stop the pandemic, one thing is necessary: ​​rapid mass vaccination” and that the rest, including containment, are “interim measures”.

Although the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was against compulsory vaccinationSobianin decreed in mid-June the obligation to be vaccinated for at least 60% of employees in the service sector, an example that many Russian regions emulate.

On the other hand, Central region of central Russia suspended COVID-19 vaccination for two days on Saturday due to dose shortageslocal authorities have reported, while the country has seen the largest daily increase in cases of the disease since mid-January.

Following shortages that forced the suspension of vaccination campaigns from Friday in some centers in the regions of Bashkortostan and Khabarovsk, health authorities in central Udmurtia said vaccinations would stop until Monday in due to lack of supplies.

The Kremlin said the issue would be resolved in the next few days, and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced additional expenditure of 25 billion rubles ($ 346.80 million) for care of patients with COVID-19.

According to Russian authorities, more than 21 million out of a total of 146 million Russians have already received the first dose of the vaccine, a figure considered too low to achieve herd immunity this year.

Russia already adds 5,451,291 positives and 133,282 deaths from covid-19, although independent sources double and triple the official figures. EFE

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