A quarter of a million hospitalized patients, death records, overwhelmed hospitals: an outbreak of COVID-19 cases sweeps over Russia, where President Vladimir Putin is preparing to put millions of workers on forced leave to curb this 4e wave. The DD Guzel Ulumbekova, director of the Higher School of Health Organization and Management of Russia, attached to Moscow, draws a portrait of the situation.
“Today, we have more than a million patients infected with the coronavirus across the country, of which more than 250,000 are hospitalized. In total, more than 600,000 doctors and nurses work with these patients (according to data from the Ministry of Health of Russia). Before this wave, the incidence did not exceed 23,000 cases per day (November 2020), but today we have more than 34,000 cases per day ”, she explained to To have to. By comparison, the United States, with 186 million more people, hit a peak of 98,000 hospitalizations in mid-September.
According to the DD Ulumbekova, the current situation puts enormous stress on the Russian health system and delays the treatment of patients with other chronic diseases.
With a daily record of 1,023 deaths and 34,000 infections recorded on Wednesday, the current wave has reached a threshold unmatched since the start of the pandemic. According to Moscow Times, the health care system is approaching its saturation point, with 87% of the available beds devoted to COVID-19 occupied. In the Saratov region, more than 700 km south-east of Moscow, several overwhelmed hospitals have had to turn back patients in the corridors, said Oleg Kostin, Minister of Health of the region on Wednesday.
The severity of this wave is closely related to the fact that less than a third of the Russian population is adequately vaccinated. And this despite the fact that the country has four effective Russian vaccines. The DD Ulumbekova also says that she finds the current situation in terms of vaccination “completely incomprehensible!” “
“People take this virus seriously, but I don’t understand why they don’t get vaccinated. For me, that makes no sense, ”she laments.
The Russian paradox
The first country to have developed a vaccine against COVID – Sputnik V – Russia has two others (CoviVax and EpiVacCorona) and a fourth, “Sputnik Light “, Which requires a single injection, explains Guzel Ulumbekova.
Despite everything, the Russian federation remains at the back of the pack in terms of vaccination, and does less well than very small countries such as Belize (36% of the total population is adequately vaccinated), Colombia (38%) or Thailand. (36%).
Efforts around vaccination campaigns have been too timid and too few, says the director of the Higher School of Health Organization and Management of Russia. “Unfortunately, people are still hesitant about the vaccine. There haven’t been enough convincing campaigns and systemic propaganda. “
To reverse the current trend, we should quickly increase the vaccination rate, implement strict health measures, such as the requirement of a QR code to access several public places, require the wearing of masks strictly, ban public events. and impose teleworking on certain categories of workers, she thinks. “But this is a purely personal opinion,” she insists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin went in this direction on Wednesday by decreeing a national week off from October 30 to November 7, coinciding with the school break, to encourage the 144 million Russians to stay at home. The Soviet leader has already resorted in the past to “paid holidays” to slow the rate of infections.
“Today, many leaders of the regions of Russia recommended people to do remote work for two weeks. Measures will be taken to support businesses. People are more and more tired and need to see the economy improve. It’s a very difficult balance to achieve, ”says DD Ulumbekova.
Always wary of vaccines, the Russians are the first to pay the price. According to this Moscow doctor, 90% of patients hospitalized at present are not vaccinated, and 30% are young. “There is no shortage of equipment, but certainly a shortage of personnel,” adds the DD Ulumbekova.
The site OurWorldindata.org estimates that the COVID-19 death rate in Russia for the past week has reached over 6.7 per million population, three times that of the UK, and around 10 times that reported in countries like Germany, France, Italy or Spain. Also heavily affected, the United States has a COVID death rate of around 5 per million people.
Call for help
So far, life has followed its more or less normal course in the two cities of the country most affected by the infections, Moscow and St. Petersburg, despite the wearing of compulsory masks. But on Tuesday, the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, resolved to increase the number of civil servants to be vaccinated to 80%, a threshold initially set at 60%. From October 25, all unvaccinated Muscovites over the age of 60 will have to remain confined to their homes until February 25. One third of company employees will be kept teleworking. The day before, he had raised his voice by introducing fines to users neglecting to wear their masks in public transport.
In the 2e city of the country, St. Petersburg, a health passport will be required from 1er November in order to access cultural or sporting events. In mid-November, the presentation of this passport will be extended to swimming pools, gymnasiums, theaters and museums, and restaurants and other businesses on 1er December.
To date, 39 out of 85 regions have imposed compulsory vaccination for certain workers, or introduced a form of health passport to access certain public places.
The toll of the pandemic on the Russian population is already weighing heavily, with more than 230,000 officially recorded deaths since March 2020, making it the most bereaved country in Europe. More than 1,100 health care workers died there during the first 6 months of 2021. The Rosstat Institute, which calculates the mortality linked to the coronavirus differently, establishes nearly 420,000 deaths attributable to the pandemic.