Russia announced a new daily record for coronavirus infections for the second day in a row on Saturday, as the Kremlin warned of the risks associated with the highly contagious Omicron variant.
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The most bereaved country in Europe by Covid-19, Russia has recorded 57,212 new cases, after having recorded 49,513 the day before, according to government figures.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned last week that his country had two weeks to prepare before being struck down by this variant, calling for accelerated testing and vaccination.
The capital Moscow, epicenter of the epidemic in the country, also recorded a new record for the third day in a row, with 16,904 new cases.
Contagions have been on the rise in recent days, suggesting a particularly strong wave.
In Russia, which is just emerging from a particularly deadly wave caused by the Delta variant, the authorities are still struggling to convince Russians to go and get vaccinated.
Even though this country has several vaccines of its own design, including Sputnik V, less than half of the 144 million Russians are completely immune to date, according to the specialist website Gogov.
On Thursday, the designers of Sputnik V claimed in a press release “strong protection” against the Omicron variant, similar remarks to those of Mr Putin who claimed that the Russian vaccine was “more effective than others used in the world” .
Government figures show 325,433 deaths from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. But the Rosstat statistical agency, which relies on a broader definition of virus-related deaths, counts almost twice as many.
After a strict containment in the spring of 2020, the Russian authorities refused to reinstate such restrictions, despite new epidemic waves, in order to limit economic losses.
Russia is the fourth country in the world most bereaved by the virus, according to an AFP count, after the United States, Brazil and India.