More regions of Russia have made COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for residents age 60 and over as the country tries to control coronavirus infections and to keep the omicron variant at bay.
Dr. Vsevolod Belousov, right, and Dr. Saltanat Bekeeva, left, greet 101-year-old patient Pelageya Poyarkova with flowers as she leaves the recovery ward for COVID-19 patients at the Federal Center for Brain and Neurotechnology in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. Russia has reported more than 9.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the pandemic and more than 270 thousands deaths, which experts believe could be undercounts.
According to the report, out of nearly 75,000 deaths in October, 58,822 were directly caused by confirmed COVID-19; 9,912 other deaths were likely caused by the virus, but it wasn’t confirmed by a test. In 1,141 cases, the virus “significantly” contributed to fatal complications of other diseases, and 5,018 people tested positive for the virus but died of other causes.
The surge came amid low vaccination rates and poor compliance with public health measures, and more regions this week have made COVID-19 shots mandatory for residents aged 60 and over in an effort to boost vaccine uptake and keep contagion and fatalities down. About 40% of Russia’s nearly 146 million people have been fully vaccinated, even though the country approved a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine — Sputnik V — months before most of the world.
Russia restricted entry for all foreigners traveling from countries in Southern Africa and required all Russian nationals returning from South Africa or neighboring countries as of Thursday to quarantine for 14 days because of the the omicron variant, which was first reported by scientists in South Africa.
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