Coronavirus surging in Russia

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 27 Jun 2021 by Alex Teddy

---

On June 25 Russia saw its largest rise in coronavirus cases since January 2021. There were 98 deaths from the pandemic in Moscow and 98 in St Petersburg. That is the highest coronavirus death toll for either city since the pandemic began.Russia was very proud of how well it handled coronavirus. It invented the first vaccine in the world. Its economy came through the crisis not too badly scathed. It avoided a second lockdown until now.It is rumored that the Delta + strain is in Russia. This is probably true as it is in most other countries and it would be hard to explain the rapid rise in cases otherwise. 85% of the country's hospital beds are taken according to the Health Ministry. The country is ill-equipped to cope with a spike in cases. There have been almost 5.5. million cases of coronavirus and 132 000 deaths therefrom. It is suspected that the true figures are much higher. 12 regions have introduced some kind of compulsory vaccination. Moscow is one of them. Most of these regions are making it mandatory for people who work in certain sectors; police, healthcare and transport. This is not a federal policy, said Putin. An opinion poll showed that 50% of people back compulsory vaccination and 30% are against. At most 15% Russians have been vaccinated. A considerable minority of Russians say that they will refuse to be vaccinated with Sputnik. This is ironic since the Russian media has been very sceptical about Western vaccines. From June 28 a third of unvaccinated staff had to work from home in Moscow. All old people and those with health conditions had to work from home in addition to this. As of June 28 only those who have been vaccinated or proved negative to COV...