Covid situation in Russia

By editor On Jul 5, 2021

An area that is popular with both tourists and locals in central Moscow, June 15, 2021, where the mayor said on Friday, June 18, 2021, that 89.3 percent of all new coronavirus cases there involve the highly contagious Delta variant. Russia is again in the grips of a virus surge, despite months of assurances from President Vladimir Putin’s government that the worst of the pandemic had passed. (Sergey Ponomarev/The New York Times)

Coronavirus deaths in Russia hit a record for the fifth straight day, with the authorities reporting 697 fatalities as the country faces a quick surge of infections. The earlier highest, 679, was recorded on Friday. Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported 24,439 new cases in a single day, which was the highest daily tally since January, and 1,200 more than the day before. Moscow, its outlying region and St Petersburg accounted for nearly half of Saturday’s new cases. Officials blame the surge on the highly infectious Delta variant and tepid demand for vaccinations. The Kremlin claimed that the authorities are not discussing another lockdown. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that the situation with the coronavirus remains “tense” in a number of regions, but no one wants any lockdowns.

Moscow, the worst hit region throughout Russia’s pandemic, reported 7,446 cases on Saturday, while St Petersburg which hosted a Euro 2020 quarter-final between Spain and Switzerland on Friday night reported 1,733 cases and 110 deaths. Pictures from the city’s fan zones presented many people deprived of the mandatory covering of mouth and nose. Russia had hoped its vaccination campaign would tamp down a new wave, but it has met with widespread uncertainty and an inactive rollout, with only 16 percent of the 146 million population jabbed.