Russia and Ukraine, few vaccinations and many restrictions
Fake news about vaccines and fake health passes are driving Russia and Ukraine months back and how then new restrictive measures become necessary. All the details
After weeks of encouraging data, the number of Covid infections in Europe has increased for three consecutive weeks. Russia and Ukraine are among the countries to the east, together with Romania and Bulgaria , to find themselves most in difficulty. Lowest common denominator: the vaccination rate still too low.
BLACK DAYS IN RUSSIA
Yesterday, writes the BBC , Russia reported a record number of daily cases of both infections and deaths: 40,000 infections and 1,159 deaths.
The Russian army, according to the Guardian , has announced that a hospital for Covid patients will be established in the Moscow region. The pressure on the health system, in fact, is starting to be felt and the Minister of Health Mikhail Murashhko reported that almost 90% of the beds are occupied by over 268,000 patients due to Covid.
"It is important to accelerate the pace of vaccination, otherwise we will not be able to control the spread of the infection," said Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
THE VACCINATION CAMPAIGN
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, however, denied that there were plans to make the vaccine mandatory as well as the existence of a project to revive pro-vaccination communication.
According to government data, just over 30% of Russians have received two doses of one of the domestically produced vaccines, and according to surveys cited by the Guardian, nearly half of the population has ruled out being vaccinated.
The Kremlin initially predicted that 60% of the population would be fully vaccinated by the end of the summer. "Until we reach our goal and the public immunity threshold, we will deem all our efforts insufficient," Peskov said.
But getting Russians to get vaccinated seems very difficult, and Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya lab that developed the Sputnik V vaccine, said most people who claimed to be vaccinated and then got sick bought fake health passes.
SEMI-LOCKDOWN AND UNPOPULAR MEASURES
To combat the wave of infections, President Vladimir Putin has established the closure for 11 days, from yesterday to November 7, of all non-essential services. However, he did not ask citizens to stay at home, indeed, many will take advantage of this period to travel within the country and abroad. AP writes that a huge influx of tourists is expected in the tourist city of Sochi on the Black Sea and the demand for direct flights to Turkey and Egypt has increased.
Among the anti Covid measures envisaged in Moscow, schools closed like many of the offices, and restaurants and bars will only be able to take away and remain open between 7 and 23.
The introduction of new restrictions has largely fallen on regional officials, who have decided, in a very unpopular way, to temporarily close local businesses and reintroduce the use of the QR code which last year was defined by many as a "Cybergulag".
Even the small entrepreneurs of the capital did not make the decision well. They still remember when restrictive measures had already been applied and, despite the losses, they claim to have received little financial support from the government.
UKRAINIAN SIMILARITY
The neighboring Ukraine is very reminiscent of the situation already described for Russia. Here too there are not very encouraging data. Yesterday there were 26,071 new cases – a record number since the start of the pandemic – and 734 deaths. If fully vaccinated Russians are 30%, Ukrainians are only 16%.
As in Russia, false certifications are widespread, especially among those belonging to categories (such as teachers) who are required to prove vaccination. In Kiev, the government said, residents will now be asked to present passes to access restaurants, gyms and public transport.
Health Minister Viktor Lyashko called the increase in hospital admissions "rampant" and called for vaccinations to "stop these sad statistics".
HOW DOES KIEV MOVE
The schools in the capital, after the holiday weekend, will resume at a distance and to take the local public transport, the health pass will be requested, but not on long-distance ones, where instead random checks will be carried out. Certification document also provided for cinemas and gyms.
Authorities hope this will be enough to reverse the trend before the already ailing health system collapses entirely.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/russia-e-ucraina-poche-vaccinazioni-e-tante-restrizioni/ on Fri, 29 Oct 2021 09:33:58 +0000.