Russia has become the new hotbed of the coronavirus pandemic: from production of Sputnik V to nearly 1,000 deaths per day

Russia Today it is the land of paradoxes. With millions of Sputnik V vaccines sold around the world, the country of Vladimir Putin immunized only a third of its population versus coronavirus and live a case explosion Unlike what is happening in most of the planet where the pandemic is receding or at least its impact has diminished.

The figures are worrying. Since September the number of deaths and infections continues to rise. The latest official toll has exceeded 900 daily deaths for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

A total of 929 deaths have been reported, up from 895 on Tuesday, with 25,133 new cases. They go eight consecutive days in which I know beat Records death.

Russia also holds the highest death toll in Europe with over 212,000 deaths, although there are few who believe the number to be the true one and some even dare to triple that number. The total number of cases is 7,662,560.

I even know if they take the last seven days, the country accumulates 172,719 new patients, only overtaken by the United States in the world, and 6,165 deaths, also exceeded by the northern country with 11,163 deaths, according to data collected by the site Worldometers.

Why are cases and deaths increasing in Russia?

One of the explanations heard from Russian sanitation technicians to justify this crisis is the emergence of the variant Delta in the country. But that only explains half of the emergency: the slowness in the application of vaccines has accentuated the acceleration of cases and deaths.

According to official figures, Only 33% of 146 million Russians received at least one dose of Sputnik V vaccine last Tuesday. With the full diet, the number drops to 29%. Very little for the country which registered the first vaccine against Covid-19 in the world in August 2020.

What is happening with the health system

This situation has started to put pressure on the Russian healthcare system.

In recent days, the local press has reported long lines of ambulances in front of St. Petersburg hospitals, the former imperial capital and the second most populous city in the country. Even, according to EFE, a rescue team from the city of Vladimir, 180 kilometers east of Moscow, had to urgently transfer a patient to a specially equipped government building because she could not find a bed in a local hospital .

The presidential delegate of the Urals, Vladimir Yakushev, quoted by the Russian press agency Interfax, he said that 95% of beds are occupied for Covid patients in this district which covers six regions of central Russia.

“The situation is terrible“, he summed up.

Tatiana Golikova, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the fight against the pandemic, indicated that they are currently registered three times more cases than the same period last year. This trend is observed in 67 of the 85 regions of the country.

The focus of the pandemic remains Moscow, where 3,589 cases were reported on Wednesday, followed by St. Petersburg with 2,187.

What are the preventive measures and restrictions to fight the pandemic

In front of this panorama, President Putin rejected idea of ​​strict quarantine and left it to local authorities to develop contingency plans to alleviate the crisis. For now, several regions of the country already have limited capacity at public events and conditioned access to theaters, restaurants and other venues for people who have been vaccinated or PCR-negative.

All eyes are now on the slow-moving vaccination plan as millions of doses of Sputnik V (developed by the Gamaleya Institute in cooperation with the Russian Direct Investment Fund) are shipped abroad. But Russia has approved three more Covid-19 vaccines made in the country: the single-dose version Sputnik light, the CoviVac (produced by the Chumakov laboratory) and the EpiVacCorona (from the Vector laboratory).

“The numbers are really, really bad and that’s a real cause for concern. The main reason is the insufficient level of vaccination ”, alerted the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

Distrust of Russian vaccines is growing

The causes of this apparent failure of the vaccination campaign are diverse, although some emphasize the mistrust of many Russians with the vaccine. For this reason, different regions have decided to copy the strategy applied in several American cities, by organizing raffles with prizes ranging from large sums of money, cars and even houses.

The Russians have been reluctant to accept the vaccination, not least because of the doubts that have been raised in the West about the Sputnik V, which has not yet been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to some polls cited by international press agencies, more than half of the population thinks they do not get vaccinated. But that was not the only obstacle. The country has experienced many production problems and plans to import vaccines to speed up the campaign, according to The Moscow Times.

And as mistrust of local vaccines grows, the wealthier class rushes to organize vaccination “tours” in different countries of Europe with their eyes riveted on a single vaccine: the Pfizer.