In Russia, COVID-19 surge shows no signs of abating

MOSCOW — Daily coronavirus cases and deaths successful Russia remained astatine all-time highs Wednesday arsenic much regions announced extending existing restrictions successful an effort to tame the country’s unrelenting surge of infections.

Russia’s authorities coronavirus task unit reported implicit 40,000 caller confirmed cases from a time earlier, the astir since the commencement of the pandemic. It was the 5th clip successful 7 days that the state acceptable a regular lawsuit record.

The task unit besides reported 1,189 deaths, different regular record.

Russia is 5 days into a nationwide non-working play that the authorities introduced to curb the dispersed of the virus. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered galore Russians to enactment disconnected enactment betwixt Oct. 30 and Nov. 7. He authorized determination governments to widen the fig of non-working days, if necessary.

Officials successful Russia’s Novgorod region, located 500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of Moscow, said Monday that the clip distant from workplaces would past different week. Two different regions — the Tomsk portion successful Siberia and the Chelyabinsk portion successful the Ural Mountains — followed suit Wednesday.

“One non-working week is not capable to interruption the concatenation of infection,” Tomsk politician Sergei Zhvachkin said.

Governors of astatine slightest 3 different regions person said they were considering extending the non-working period.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that nary determination connected a imaginable nationwide hold has been made.

“If immoderate different decisions are (made), we volition pass you,” Peskov said during a league telephone with reporters.

Russia’s weekslong surge successful infections and deaths comes amid debased vaccination rates, lax nationalist attitudes toward taking precautions and the government’s reluctance to toughen restrictions.

Less than 35% of Russia’s astir 146 cardinal radical person been afloat vaccinated against the coronavirus, adjacent though Russia approved a domestically developed vaccine against the coronavirus months earlier astir countries.

In all, Russia’s authorities coronavirus task unit has reported much than 8.6 cardinal confirmed coronavirus cases and implicit 242,000 deaths successful the pandemic — by acold the highest decease toll successful Europe.

However, reports by Russia’s authorities statistical work Rosstat that tally coronavirus-linked deaths retroactively uncover overmuch higher mortality numbers. A study released past week indicated that immoderate 462,000 radical with COVID-19 died betwixt April 2020 and September of this year.

Russian officials person said the task unit lone includes deaths for which COVID-19 was the main origin and uses information collected from aesculapian facilities. Rosstat uses wider criteria for counting virus-related deaths and takes its numbers from civilian registry offices wherever the process of registering a decease is finalized.