Falling number of Covid-19 cases is ‘encouraging’ & shows that Russia has gotten pandemic under control – WHO representative
The decrease in daily recorded coronavirus cases in Russia is a sign that the country is getting on top of the pandemic. That's according to Melita Vujnovic, the World Health Organization's representative in Moscow.
Vujnovic also revealed that she plans to get vaccinated against coronavirus in Russia, presumably with its domestically-produced Sputnik V vaccine.
"Of course, it is encouraging that there has been a constant decrease in the number of new cases in Russia over the past 20 days," Vujnovic told TV channel Russia 24, noting that the amount of daily infections is still "high."
“[However,] we should not lower our guard," she said.
Also on rt.com EU could approve Russian-made Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine for use as early as February, amid concern over missed shipments from USAccording to Vujnovic, the increased availability of Sputnik V should help reduce the number of severe Covid-19 cases but may not necessarily prevent transmission of the virus. Monday saw the beginning of Russia's mass coronavirus campaign, with the jab being made available to the general public. By the end of January, about 2.1 million doses of Sputnik V will have been released into circulation.
"We hope that vaccination combined with anti-epidemic measures will have a positive impact," she said, noting that she would soon be getting inoculated herself.
On January 20, Russia confirmed 21,152 new coronavirus cases and 597 deaths. While still high, the numbers are a significant drop-off from the peak on December 24, when 29,935 infections were recorded. Overall, according to official figures, 3,633,952 people in Russia have been infected with Covid-19. This puts the world's largest country in fourth place, behind the US (24,256,319), India (10,595,639), and Brazil (8,573,864).
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
