Sobyanin, who has run Europe’s largest city since 2010, believes that mass vaccination will be “the final victory over the pandemic.”
Writing on his blog, the mayor explained that the high number of infections in Moscow is due to the city’s huge population and the significant number of tests being conducted. On Monday, confirmed cases in the capital hit 367,629, a quarter of the country’s overall number (1,415,316), despite officially having around only eight percent of the population.
In the same blog post, Sobyanin highlighted that he does not yet see a necessity to introduce “extreme” measures in the city, such as a curfew and a ban on movement, but did not rule out other less stringent measures.
The main aim is to interrupt the spread of the infection, while not affecting the economy or depriving people of work, he wrote.
“Ultimately, we are not making a choice between good and bad,” the mayor said. “All decisions are bad. We have to choose the lesser of two evils. But if we do nothing today, then tomorrow we will have to take tougher, more radical, and more unpleasant measures.”
Last week, the capital introduced extra restrictions regarding nightlife, with those attending bars and clubs after midnight being forced to scan a QR code for the purpose of track-and-trace.
Moscow is currently hosting the third phase trial of the country’s homegrown COVID-19 vaccine, called Sputnik V.
The mass post-registration testing of the vaccine, which was produced by the city’s Gamaleya Institute, involves 40,000 volunteers – a quarter of whom will receive a placebo.
On October 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the registration of the second domestic vaccine, EpiVacCorona, developed in Siberia. A third formula is also said to be on the way.
Header: MOSCOW, RUSSIA – MAY 29, 2020: Medical staff members at work in the ‘red zone’ of a temporary medical facility established for COVID-19 patients at Moscow City Clinical Hospital No 15 (Filatov Hospital). Sergei Bobylev/TASS
Source: RT
Russia ranks 43rd in the world in the coronavirus incidence rate per 100,000 residents and 105th in the COVID-19 mortality rate, deputy head of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Elena Yezhlova said.
“Despite the increase in the daily number of recorded cases, today Russia ranks 43rd in terms of morbidity per 100,000 residents and 105th in terms of mortality rate,” she said at the “Modern Immunoprophylaxis: Challenges, Opportunities, Prospects” All-Russian scientific and practical conference with international participation.
She also noted that 858 laboratories conducted coronavirus tests. Russia’s COVID-19 testing level is 327,900 per 1 million of the population, which, according to Yezhlova, is a very high number compared to other countries.
Source: TASS