Russia sets new daily death record with 890 COVID-19 deaths

Russia recorded new death record from COVID-19 this Sunday with 890 deaths on the last day, the maximum since the start of the pandemic coronavirus, reported the operational center for the fight against this infectious disease.

65 patients died in Moscow and 59 in St. Petersburg. So far the country has notified 209,918 deaths by COVID, although official statistics on excessive deaths during the same period have tripled that figure.

On the last day in Russia, 25,769 new infections were also confirmed, the highest number since last January.

The Russian capital remains the main focus of the pandemic, with 4,294 new cases on the last day, followed by St. Petersburg, with 2,463 recent infections. This new registry brings the total number of covid-19 cases detected in the country to 7,586,536.

Authorities attribute the increase in cases mainly to the spread of the delta variant, more contagious than the previous ones.

Russia has failed to bring down contagion and death figures since the wave of last Junealthough he had a brief respite at the end of August.

Independent experts accuse Russian authorities of downplaying the severity of the epidemic. Russia, the fifth most affected country in the world with more than seven million infections, has seen an increase in cases in the past month with the cessation of vaccination.

Several Russian vaccines have been available for months, but authorities are struggling to vaccinate a skeptical population.

Thus, the reluctance of Russians to be vaccinated remains, which has thwarted the government’s plans to vaccinate 60% of the Russian population before the end of the year.

So far, only 42.5 million Russians, or 29.1% of the population, have received the full directive.

Compared with other countries and the world average, Russia ranks remarkably low in its vaccine availability.

In addition, the authorities have chosen to avoid restrictive health measures, in order to protect the economy, which has stagnated for years.

The mask, which remains compulsory, is rarely used in public places and the indications of social distancing are rarely observed.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted this week that the vaccination rate is insufficient, noting that “some citizens have not yet made the decision to get vaccinated, which is bad.” In a self-critical tone, he added: “Maybe we should be more active in explaining that the only thing that saves lives is the vaccine.”.

Although he defended the voluntary nature of vaccination and denied the restrictions for the unvaccinated at this time, and stressed that due to the peculiarities of this disease, there will come a time when “unvaccinated people will live on less. of comfort than the vaccinated “. Of course, although he stressed that the Kremlin’s position on the voluntary nature of vaccination “has not changed, the (epidemic) situation is changing” for the worse, he noted.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

KEEP READING: