Cancellation of anti-covid measures by Rospotrebnadzor: is it too early or just at the right moment?

The process of international recognition may become more complicated due to Western sanctions. And although more people die from covid today than during a special operation, Rospotrebnadzor cancels anti-epidemic measures.

Irina Mishina

Rospotrebnadzor (Russian Federal State Agency for Health and Consumer Rights) proposed to cancel almost all restrictions on COVID-19, except for the mask regime. In its updated recommendations, Rospotrebnadzor advises Russians to wear masks indoors, and owners of facilities where there are a lot of people to carry out disinfection intensively. We did not find a clause on maintaining social distance in the document. These recommendations are given in the department's updated methodological materials.

All this is very strange, because the easing of anti-COVID measures is taking place against the backdrop of undecreasing morbidity and mortality. Over the past 24 hours alone, 97.3 thousand infected people were detected in Russia, 12.7 thousand people were sent for hospitalization. The total number of people infected with coronavirus is approaching 16.5 million, more than 350 thousand patients could not be saved…

“They are still very sick, in Russia they register about 100 thousand cases per day, about 750-800 deaths per day. A decrease in mortality from Covid -19 is not worth waiting for yet, because the incidence rate remains quite high. The mask regime is little and poorly observed, I would not weaken control over its observance. I would also recommend continuing vaccination. This will insure against a severe course”, - professor, senior researcher at the N.I. Gamaleya Anatoly Alshtein.

The thought involuntarily creeps in: is there a connection between the weakening of the fight against covid and the mobilization of doctors announced by the Ministry of Health in the area of the special operation in Ukraine? As NI reported the day before, the Minister of Health instructed "to identify medical specialists and medical workers ready for business trips".

“I don’t think that it’s worth looking for some kind of connection with this”, - commented Professor Anatoly Alshtein.

"Now there is a decline in the wave of incidence of COVID-19. What will happen next is not very clear. Maybe this is a temporary measure. It corresponds to the current epidemic situation", - says physician Aleksey Vodovozov.

And yet the question remains: is the abolition of anti-COVID measures justified? Indeed, today, according to official statistics, 74,669,722 people are fully vaccinated, or only 51.1% of the population.

“If we look at countries that have canceled the mask regimen, then mainly in these states for 90 percent of the population vaccinated against COVID-19. Also in these countries, 80 percent of people have already received the third dose of the vaccine. That is, the abolition of the anti-covid regimen does not depend on the incidence rate, but from vaccination", - concluded the therapist Alexei Vodovozov.

But with the Sputnik V vaccine, predictable difficulties arose. The WHO has already started talking about its approval, but now this process has stopped. Officially, WHO explains the delay in the recognition of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine by the process of evaluating the technical dossier. This was stated by WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris. She noted that the deadlines are being delayed due to the expectation of additional information.

"Sputnik" is now not approved by the WHO for political reasons, - Doctor of Medical Sciences Anatoly Alshtein told NI. “Our vaccine is no worse than drugs from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. But in the current conditions it is difficult to say whether Sputnik will be accepted by the WHO or not. When you start mixing politics with medicine, nothing good comes of it".

However, the West's approval of Sputnik has no practical significance for the absolute majority of Russians. Sanctions on air travel, border closures and problems with bank cards abroad have reduced flow to Europe and the US to near zero. So there is no need to show vaccination certificates to foreigners.

As for the covid within Russia, then everyone is invited to save themselves to the best of their understanding of the situation. Some will breathe a sigh of relief, others will still wear masks and wash their hands with an antiseptic, based on the fact that God protects the safe.