29.03.2024

2 in 3 Russians Believe Coronavirus Is a Bioweapon

Nearly two out of three Russians believe the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus is a bioweapon created by humans, a survey by the independent Levada Center polling agency said Monday.

According to Levada’s results, 64% of Russian respondents said Covid-19 was artificially created as a new form of biological weapon. That compares with 23% who said the virus emerged naturally and 13% who couldn’t answer.

Levada’s survey also found a correlation between rapidly declining daily caseloads and Russians’ fear of getting infected.

More than half, or 56%, of Russian respondents said they are not afraid of catching Covid-19 versus 43% who said they are afraid of it. That marks the lowest share of those who fear the virus since February 2020, when the pandemic had just started spreading worldwide and before Russia saw significant Covid-19 case numbers.

The figures stand in inverse proportion to October 2020, when 64% of Russians said they were afraid of catching the virus versus 34% who weren’t afraid as daily infection rates began to soar.

Vaccine hesitancy is also on the rise, with 62% of respondents saying they don’t want to get Russia’s Sputnik V jab compared with 30% who do. Younger Russians were more skeptical of the domestically manufactured vaccine than their older counterparts by a 74-to-56 margin.

Among the most cited reasons for declining interest in Sputnik V are fears of side effects, incomplete clinical trials and the sense that “there’s no point” in a vaccine, Levada said.

Still, four out of five Russians said they or someone they know had already gotten sick with Covid-19, while 28% said they have not come across anyone who got sick.

Levada conducted the survey among 1,601 respondents from 50 regions between Feb. 18-24.

Its findings come as a World Health Organization (WHO) mission investigating the origins of Covid-19 in China has all but dismissed a theory that it came from a lab in Wuhan. Scientists say the virus that causes Covid-19 most likely traveled from animal species to human populations.

2 in 3 Medics Say Russia Unprepared for Second Coronavirus Wave

Around two-thirds of Russian medics believe that the country is not ready for a second wave of the coronavirus, according to a survey published by the VTimes news website Thursday.

Russia is the world’s fourth-most affected country with more than 1.35 million confirmed cases of Covid-19. Its number of new coronavirus cases has nearly tripled from around 5,000 to a new record of over 14,000 in the course of a month.

According to a survey by the Doctor at Work physicians network cited by VTimes, 76% of regional medics and 57.3% of Moscow medics say Russia’s healthcare system is unprepared for the second wave.

When asked to specify what contributes to the lack of preparedness, an overwhelming majority (84%) said that Russian hospitals are understaffed, according to VTimes. The doctors also pointed to a lack of equipment including CT scanners and ventilators, hospital beds, as well as medicine and protective equipment.

When Doctor at Work asked the healthcare professionals whether they trust Russia’s official Covid-19 statistics, 74% said they don’t (85% in the regions and 63% in Moscow), VTimes reported.

The survey noted that 42.7% of medics in Moscow believe Russia’s healthcare system is prepared for the second wave, a view shared by 24% of their colleagues in the regions.

“Doctor at Work” conducted the survey among 789 healthcare professionals, 143 of them in Moscow and the rest across Russia’s regions, from Oct. 5-9.

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