29.03.2024

Russia Registers 800K Coronavirus Cases

Russia’s fatality rate has remained low compared to other badly-hit countries, raising speculation that Moscow could be underreporting figures. The highest number of new cases were in Moscow, the western Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk and Sverdlovsk in the Urals.

Russian authorities began easing anti-virus measures in June ahead of a massive World War II military parade in Moscow and a nationwide vote on constitutional reforms that now allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2036.

Both events were initially postponed due the epidemic.

Moscow plans to open cinemas and theaters on Aug. 1. In the capital, masks are mandatory in stores and on public transport but not in the streets.

Several institutes in Russia are working on a coronavirus vaccine.

Last week the Russian Defense Ministry said it had developed a «safe» vaccine following clinical trials on a group of volunteers.

The trials are ongoing, and the Defense Ministry expects clinical trials to be fully completed in the coming weeks.

St. Petersburg Pneumonia Cases Surge Tenfold Amid Coronavirus

Russia’s second-largest city St. Petersburg has registered 10 times the number of community-acquired pneumonia cases in May 2020 than it did in May 2019, according to official data.

The surge comes as St. Petersburg’s health authorities began reporting a drop in new coronavirus infections from 300 per day earlier in July to fewer than 200 this week. In June, city officials recorded a 10-year spike in deaths amid persisting questions over Russia’s relatively low Covid-19 mortality rate compared to other hard-hit countries.

According to its statistics office, St. Petersburg recorded 9,560 cases of community-acquired pneumonia this May, or 9.9 times more than last May.

Overall, its 20,537 community-acquired pneumonia cases in January-May were almost three times higher than the number of cases in January-May 2019.

Health officials linked the surge in community-acquired pneumonia to the coronavirus outbreak, saying the infection is the main complication from Covid-19.

“Not all patients with community-acquired pneumonia had Covid-19 confirmed by lab tests,” St. Petersburg’s health committee told the local Fontanka.ru news website. 

St. Petersburg has moved to lift Covid-19 restrictions since early June and plans to reopen restaurants and shopping malls from Monday.

The city is Russia’s third-most affected locale amid the pandemic, with 30,281 confirmed cases and 1,908 deaths as of Friday.

Russia has officially confirmed more than 800,000 cases, the world’s fourth-highest number of infections, with its daily caseload dropping to fewer than 6,000 in recent weeks.

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