https://www.leftvoice.org/russian-doctors-and-activists-face-threats-for-reporting-on-coronavirus-amid-surge-in-cases Less than a month ago, while countries across the world scrambled to contain the devastating spread of COVID-19, Russia’s president had all but declared victory over the deadly virus. “Thanks to the prompt measures taken in advance,” he proclaimed in late March, “we were able to contain the mass penetration and spread of the disease in Russia. Despite the potentially high level of risk, we must say that the situation as a whole is under control.” The self-congratulatory remarks were coupled with spectacular PR stunts involving the shipment of medical supplies to Italy and the United States, as well as sharp criticism of European authorities for their “mismanagement” of the pandemic.
Behind the official triumphalism, however, the realities faced by Russian doctors treating patients with respiratory symptoms told a starkly different story. According to the Russian government’s own statistics, Russians were contracting “pneumonia” at significantly higher rates than in the past. In January, Moscow physicians reported a 37% increase in pneumonia cases compared to the same period the year before. “While the whole world is facing an outbreak of a new coronavirus, Russia is facing an outbreak of a community-acquired pneumonia. And as usual, we’re facing the lie of the authorities,” said Anastasia Vasilyeva of the Doctors’ Alliance trade union in March.
After weeks of debate over the accuracy of the statistics provided by government authorities, an official letter to Moscow hospital directors from Aleksei Khripun, head of Moscow’s health department, seemed to support the allegations that Russia’s relatively low figures were false. The letter acknowledged that testing had been compromised by a “very high number of false results” that concealed the true extent of the spread.
This is Chernobyl all over again. Wonder if this pushes for the end of the Putin Regime.
