Russia has about two weeks to prepare for another pandemic strike in light of the spread of the omicron strain, said President Vladimir Putin. The government of the country and the regions need to take all the necessary measures to combat the coronavirus, he said. Over the past day, 17,946 cases of infection have been identified in the country, 745 people have died. Read more in the material. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes the country has roughly two weeks to prepare for another pandemic strike. He announced this on Wednesday, January 12, at a meeting with members of the government.

“We see what is happening in the world. This suggests that we have at least a couple of weeks to prepare, ”said the head of state.

Putin considers it necessary to properly prepare for a possible new wave of coronavirus in all regions of the country.

“In order to work effectively, we need to mobilize institutions of all kinds - federal, regional, local, and sectoral. We need to work with everyone and be prepared for the possible impact of this virus on a new round, ”he said.

The Russian leader stated that “there are absolutely obvious things that you can't do anything about - people communicate, travel abroad during the vacation period, including to countries with a difficult epidemic situation”. “Therefore, we need to be prepared for an increase in morbidity,” Putin stressed, instructing Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin “to work this out with the regions of the Russian Federation as soon as possible.”

Holidays are over

“It is clear that we are, of course, in a very difficult situation today. In a situation on the eve of some possible outbreaks of morbidity, especially since the holidays are large, communication between people was very intense at this time, and this cannot but affect the epidemiological situation in the country, ”the head of state said.

He added that the topic of the fight against coronavirus continues to be relevant, "and not only in the Russian Federation, but throughout the world," including because of the omicron strain.

“This once again underlines that we did the right thing by sending a group of our specialists to the Republic of South Africa. Once again I want to thank the President of South Africa and colleagues who provided the opportunity to work with this strain right at the place where it originated, where it was discovered. I hope that here we will also have certain advantages in terms of the timely adoption of the necessary decisions, ”Putin said.

The President said the holidays are "gradually ending." “As we can see, they pass smoothly, calmly,” he concluded.

Increasing testing, in-depth clinical examination

In addition, the Russian leader instructed to actively conduct in-depth medical examination for COVID-19 patients, calling the current indicators in this area insufficient.

“I would like to emphasize once again the need for an additional in-depth clinical examination for people who have had a coronavirus infection,” Putin said.

According to him, in 2021 it was planned that almost 9.5 million people would take advantage of this opportunity, but less than 2 million people went through the procedures to restore their health. In this regard, the head of state called on "not only to return to this, but to do it more actively."

The President urged to increase the volume of testing for coronavirus in the country, as well as to continue and scale up the vaccination campaign. He drew particular attention to the preparedness of the hospital network and industry for a possible new wave of the epidemic.

“Testing needs to be increased, you are absolutely right,” Putin agreed, commenting on the report of Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova. - We need to do it. And continue vaccination. ”

The President explained that he had recently discussed this topic with the heads of some regions. “There are questions, and they need to be resolved promptly,” he said.

Putin again turned to the topic of vaccinations: “we need to increase vaccination, increase it.

“Don't forget about it. And in this regard, I would ask the Prime Minister to work out this issue with the regions in the very near future, ”the President stressed.

New measures to combat

The Russian government is working out additional measures in case the situation with coronavirus in the country develops in an unfavorable scenario, and will present them by the end of the week, Golikova informed in turn.

“We are working out additional measures for an urgent response, including financial support,” she said, noting that a new epidemic rise in the incidence of coronavirus infection in Russia due to the spread of the omicron strain cannot be avoided.

According to her, 698 cases of infection with the omicron strain have so far been identified in Russia, most of them occurring in the Moscow region.

“Our task is to take comprehensive measures to curb the spread of the infection,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.She said that at the end of December the regions were given a set of instructions, which they have already implemented or continue to implement. These include disinfection of the vacated premises of hospitals of social service organizations, medical and educational organizations until the end of the New Year holidays. It is also necessary to strengthen control over the isolation of persons with a confirmed diagnosis and those returning from countries with an unfavorable epidemiological situation.

In addition, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have been instructed to ensure the supply of drugs and the readiness of medical organizations and laboratories for a possible epidemic rise.

The Moscow region will be the first in Russia to face an increase in the incidence of COVID-19 due to the spread of the new omicron strain, Golikova said.

“We understand that, most likely, the metropolitan region, as, unfortunately, a negative tradition has already developed, will take the first blow of the spread of the new strain. Therefore, we assume that with such a contagiousness, the incidence and detection rates of a new coronavirus infection may be multiple times exceeded, ”she explained.

The rate of spread of infection and vaccination

In Russia, 17,946 cases of coronavirus infection were detected in the last 24 hours, the federal operational headquarters for the fight against the new infection reported on January 12. The number of deaths increased by 745.

Conditional mortality increased to 2.98%, and the spread of coronavirus in Russia increased to 1.05, according to TASS calculations. The indicator shows how many people, on average, have time to infect one infected person before they are isolated.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 10,702,150 cases of coronavirus infection have been registered in the country, 9,758,364 people have recovered, and 318,432 have died.

As of January 10, 2022, Russia is in 95th place in the world in terms of the level of vaccination of the population. This figure is 45.88% (according to the stopcoronavirus.rf website, Johns Hopkins University and the Our World in Data project).

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