Russia recorded 1,002 Covid-19 deaths on Saturday in 24 hours, for the first time surpassing the 1,000 daily death mark since the start of the pandemic, while the country's vaccination campaign has stalled.
The official government tally shows 1,002 deaths and 33,208 new infections, which is a record for deaths and new cases recorded for the third consecutive day.
This outbreak comes when only 31% of Russians are fully vaccinated, according to the specialized website Gogov on Saturday, against a backdrop of public mistrust and while Russia is the country hardest hit in Europe by the virus.
The virus is spreading as government health restrictions are limited, although several regions have reintroduced the requirement to present QR codes to access public places.
The Kremlin, anxious to preserve the economy, refused to put in place significant restrictions at the national level, while deeming the low rate of anti-Covid vaccination "unacceptable".
"Our main mission is to find the right balance between breaking the chains of contamination (...) and maintaining the conditions to allow the economy to run and people to continue to earn money," said the spokesperson on Monday. word of the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov.
The Russians have been facing a drop in their standard of living since 2014, weighing down the popularity of the authorities.
The Kremlin also assured this week that the medical system is able to accommodate the growing number of sick people.
More than half of Russians do not plan to get the vaccine
Russia has gained experience since the start of the pandemic and "all the medical infrastructure is mobilized," Peskov said Thursday.
“Today, there are more treatment technologies, more medical monitoring and more infrastructure capacities”.
The authorities blame the behavior of the Russians.
The Minister of Health, Mikhail Murashko, attributed the current situation "in the first place to the behavior of the population and to the vaccination" insufficient despite the availability of several national vaccines.
In addition to the low vaccination rate, the spread of the virus is facilitated by poor compliance with barrier gestures.
More than half of Russians do not plan to get the vaccine, independent polls show.
Since the start of the pandemic, Russia has officially recorded 222,315 deaths, the highest figure in Europe even as authorities are accused of downplaying the scale of the outbreak in the country.
The Rosstat statistics institute, which has a broader definition of coronavirus-related deaths, reports more than 400,000 deaths.