Russia sets a new record for daily deaths due to Covid-19

Russia once again broke the national record for deaths from Covid-19 by recording 1,064 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the country’s health authorities on Friday (22).

This figure is the highest recorded since the beginning of the state of health emergency on Russian soil. The last record was recorded on October 19, with 1,015 daily deaths.

According to data from Russia’s Anti-Covid Operations Center, citing TASS, the country has also recorded 37,141 new cases of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

The bulletin comes as a new strain of the virus, identified as AY.4.2, has alarmed Russian officials, especially as it is considered more contagious than the Delta strain.

The rise in numbers was also caused by a combination of three factors: a lack of stricter hygiene rules, a lack of greater monitoring of the outbreak, and a sluggish vaccination campaign.

Russia was one of the first countries to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, which was approved in May, but failed to convince many of its residents to take it.

In an effort to contain the progress of the fourth wave of the pandemic, the government yesterday (21) issued a seven-day holiday. According to President Vladimir Putin, the period from October 30 to November 7 will be “holidays” but paid, and the regions of the country have the autonomy to extend the closure of workplaces for a longer period. .