Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko disagrees with the claims that strain “omicron” causes less severe COVID-19 than the delta strain. “Despite a number of statements that the omicron gives somewhere less severe than the delta, I want to inform you that, unfortunately, this is not the case,” he said at a meeting of the presidium of the government’s coordinating council RF on the fight against coronavirus on January 11. The broadcast was conducted by the TV channel “Russia 24” and the media platform “Look.
According to Murashko, world statistics show that intensive care units in covid hospitals, as well as beds in therapeutic departments, are full.
As the minister noted, Russia is currently at a tipping point on how the situation with coronavirus will develop further. According to him, 114 thousand patients with COVID-19 have already been hospitalized in the country, of which 16 thousand are in serious condition.
The head of the Ministry of Health indicated that there are no obstacles to increasing vaccination coverage against coronavirus, there are enough vaccines. On New Year’s holidays, 759 thousand people were vaccinated and revaccinated, but before that their number was many times greater. Almost 11 million Russians have been vaccinated, 53% of Russians are over 60 years old.
The head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said at the meeting that in Russia there is a worsening of the epidemiological situation associated with the spread of coronavirus. Thus, in 35 regions, the rate of detected new cases of infection exceeds the national average. “The maximum indicators also remain in the older age group,” Popova added.
At the same time, according to her data, in the Russian Federation, the incidence rate for the first week of the new year decreased by about 19%. During this period, a total of 112 thousand 6 cases of the disease were registered in the country. The indicator is 76.33 per 100 thousand of the population, which is 19.4% lower than in the final week of the past year.
Popova informed that during the New Year holidays the number of cases of infection with the omicron strain in Russia has tripled – up to 305. Cases of the import of this strain have been registered from 25 countries, the leaders here are South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Great Britain, Turkey.
She noted that a person with an omicron can distribute virus on the second day after infection, although symptoms of the disease usually appear on the third or fifth day. The specialist warned: employers should not allow employees with ARVI symptoms to work.
The head of Rospotrebnadzor gave an unfavorable forecast of the situation with the spread of infection: the daily number of newly detected cases of infection can reach six digits…
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