Russia reports nearly 200,000 new Covid cases for first time
February 11, 2022, 9:38 am

Russia reports nearly 200,000 new Covid cases for first time

COVID-19-Restrictions/Shutterstock

The Arab News reported, citing the Associated Press, Russian authorities on Thursday reported nearly 200,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases, in another record fueled by the rapid spread of the omicron variant amid a low vaccination rate and the absence of major restrictions for adults.

The state coronavirus task force tallied 197,076 new infections over the past 24 hours, some 14,000 more than the day before and twice as many as two weeks ago. The task force also reported 701 deaths. While infections have soared, daily fatalities in recent weeks have remained steady between roughly 600 and 700.

According to Anna Popova, head of Russia’s public health agency Rospotrebnadzor, the highly contagious omicron variant accounts for 60 percent of current infections.

Despite the surge, Russian officials have resisted imposing any major restrictions. Moreover, the government recently lifted the seven-day self-isolation restrictions for those who come into contact with COVID-19 patients. Mandatory isolation for those who test positive for the virus has also been cut from 14 to seven days, and the requirement to have a negative test to end isolation has been scrapped.

Russia has had only one lockdown, for six weeks in 2020, and in October 2021 many people were ordered to stay off work for about a week. But beside that, life in most of the country remained largely normal.

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In recent weeks, a growing number of Russian regions have started introducing restrictions for those under 18, as officials noted that the current surge is affecting children much more than the previous ones. In many areas, schools have either switched to remote learning or extended holidays for students. In St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, minors have been temporarily barred from most public places.

Gobal COVID-19 cases exceed 400 million

Russia started vaccinating children aged 12-17 only last month with the domestically developed Sputnik M jab. According to media reports and social media users, only small amounts of the vaccine for teenagers have been made available.

Only about half of Russia’s 146 million people have been vaccinated so far, even though the country was among the first in the world to roll out COVID-19 shots.

Covid death toll in USA reaches 900,000

Russian authorities have reported a total of over 13.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the pandemic and 338,091 deaths — by far the highest death toll in Europe.

Russia’s state statistics agency Rosstat, which uses broader counting criteria than the task force, puts the death toll much higher, saying the number of virus-linked deaths between April 2020 and December 2021 was at about 681,100.

Source: arabnews

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.