Moscow, Feb 7 (BNA): Russia has reported a record daily number of new coronavirus infections, a tenfold rise from last month as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads across the country.
The number of 189,071 new infections released by the government’s coronavirus task force on Sunday was about 2,800 more than the day before, and the increase that began in mid-January, when daily new cases were about 17,000, has continued, the Associated Press reported. .
Although the number of infections has increased significantly in recent weeks, the task force reported that daily deaths from COVID-19 are flat or declining marginally: 661 more deaths were recorded on Sunday, compared to 796 on January 6.
Over the entire period of the pandemic, the task force has reported 12.8 million infections and 335,414 deaths, the highest death toll to date in Europe.
Despite the high number of infections, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the major Russian business association last week that authorities are not planning any further closures or restrictions. Furthermore, the government has lifted seven-day self-isolation restrictions for those who come into contact with COVID-19 patients.
Russia has only been locked down once, for six weeks in 2020, and in October 2021 many people were ordered away from work for about a week. But besides this, life in most parts of the country has remained largely normal.
In recent weeks, a growing number of Russian regions have begun imposing restrictions on those under 18, with officials noting that the current increase is affecting children much more than its predecessors. In many areas, schools have either switched to distance learning or extended leave for students. In Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, the palace was temporarily banned from entering most public spaces.
Russia began vaccinating children aged 12 to 17 only last month with the locally developed Sputnik M-Gap, which is the same as Sputnik V but contains a smaller dose. According to media reports and social media users, only small amounts of the vaccine have been made available to teens.
Only about half of Russia’s 146 million population has been vaccinated so far, even though the country was among the first in the world to launch COVID-19 vaccines.
MI