The new coronavirus is finally slamming Russia. Is the country ready?
For weeks, Russia seemed to have dodged a bullet. As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) raged just across the border in China, Russia was virtually untouched, reporting just seven confirmed infections as recently as 10 March. Since then, the number has risen fast: Russia has now reported 840 infections, about two-thirds of them in the Moscow region.
Some health care providers have questioned whether Russia truly kept the novel coronavirus at bay. Anastasia Vasilyeva, head of Russia’s Alliance of Doctors trade union, has
pointed out that pneumonia cases in Moscow spiked in January—they were 37% higher than in January 2019, according to Rosstat, Russia’s statistics agency. She asserts that COVID-19 must have accounted for at least part of the increase. Others attribute the increase to a greater number of pneumonia patients, anxious about the new coronavirus, seeking treatment.
To cope with a rising tide of patients, Russia’s federal government is building a new hospital on Moscow’s outskirts. Authorities have called on Moscow residents over age 65 to self-isolate at home—an admonishment that Russian President Vladimir Putin, 67, exempted himself from. But Putin on 24 March donned protective gear while visiting a hospital treating COVID-19 patients, and yesterday he ordered all nonessential workplaces to close from 28 March to 5 April, declaring that “the safest thing is to be at home now.” Today, the government suspended international travel into and out of Russia—starting tomorrow—except for charter flights for bringing expatriates home.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/new-coronavirus-finally-slamming-russia-country-ready#
