COVID deaths set new records daily as Russia grapples with mistrust of government and vaccines
Moscow — Russia's deadly fourth wave of COVID-19 continues to set grim daily records for both deaths and case numbers. Almost every day throughout October saw higher figures, and the trend has continued into the new month.
On Wednesday, health officials reported yet another all-time high of 1,189 coronavirus fatalities over the previous 24 hours, and more than 40,000 new infections.
Russia's official death toll from COVID-19 stands at 242,060, but the government's own data on excess mortalities suggest the actual toll could be significantly higher, with as many as 750,000 lives lost to the virus. That would make it the highest in Europe per capita.
But despite the alarming numbers, Russian officials have been reluctant to take decisive action.
To fight the current surge, authorities brought back the so-called "non-working week," imposing a nationwide shutdown of non-essential workplaces and all schools, until November 7. In most regions, bars, restaurants and entertainment venues have been closed.
Likely wary of the unpopularity of such anti-virus measures among the Russian public, the Kremlin has avoided using the term lockdown, and it has delegated responsibility for lifting or extending the restrictions to regional governors.
Some public health experts have cast doubt on the efficacy of a short lockdown, suggesting it may be insufficient to quash the current spike in cases, and several regions have already announced that the measures will continue past November 7.
Asked by journalists on Wednesday if the federal government would announce an extension of the non-working period, President Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said, "no decisions on this score have been made."
"The presidential decree introduced a period of non-working days through November 7. If any other decisions are adopted, we'll let you know immediately," Peskov said.
The daily newspaper Kommersant reported last week that the Kremlin was actively seeking to readjust its vaccination campaign, deeming previous efforts a failure in part because of inconsistent messaging.
"Unfortunately, we led the entire information campaign about the coronavirus in Russia in a wrong way, and we completely lost," Petr Tolstoy, the deputy chairman of Russia's parliament, told state TV in October. "People have no trust to go and get vaccinated, this is a fact."
About 45% of Russians still don't want to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a recent poll conducted by the independent Levada Center. That figure has decreased slightly since the summer, but still signals a big challenge for Russian authorities.
According to Levada, the main reasons people give for their vaccine hesitancy are a widespread belief that COVID-19 dangers have been exaggerated, and mistrust of Russia's vaccines, and the government itself. Only Russian-made vaccines are available in the country.
"There is a group of people who believe in the coronavirus because people are dying around them… but they do not trust the authorities," Levada director Denis Volkov said in an interview posted on the group's website. "Some people, by default, have a low opinion of any government initiative. Those who do not trust the authorities believe that everything that the authorities offer is bad, that there is some kind of malicious intent in it."