Emergency in Russia: 83% of beds for coronavirus patients are occupied

Almost 83% of hospital beds designated for patients with COVID-19 are busy, authorities in Russia, at a time when new infections and deaths continue to break records.

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said Wednesday during a government meeting that 82.8% of the 301,500 beds reserved for coronavirus patients were occupied by Tuesday morning.

“So far, we cannot say with confidence that the situation has stabilized and that the spread of the infection has decreased,” said Golikova, who heads the country’s special commission for the fight against coronavirus.

The commission recorded another record of deaths of coronavirus Wednesday: 1,239, up from Tuesday’s record of 1,211. Officials also reported 38,058 new infections. Approximately 40,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths have been reported every day since the end of October.

The increase in infections and deaths in Russia in the fall it happens amid low vaccination rates, lax attitudes of people to take precautions and the reluctance of the government to implement stricter restrictions.

Less than 40% of Russia’s nearly 146 million people are fully vaccinated, even though Russia approved its own COVID-19 vaccine months earlier than most other countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered many Russians to stay home between October 30 and November 7. He authorized regional governments to extend that period if necessary, but only five regions of Russia did.

Others have limited attendance to public places, such as restaurants, theaters and cinemas, only for those who are fully vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 in the last six months, or have tested negative in the previous 72 hours.

It is still too early to know if the stay-at-home period paid off, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the week.