Russia brings back COVID restrictions amid record daily death tolls
CBSN
Moscow — With the number of deaths blamed on COVID-19 setting new records almost daily in Russia, the Kremlin accepted a "share of responsibility" for the first time on Tuesday for the country's lackluster vaccination campaign. Only about 32% of Russia's total population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to official data, despite the shots being widely available since the beginning of the year. About 57% of Americans are fully vaccinated, by comparison.
The halting uptake of vaccines in Russia has kept hospitalization and death rates high. Russia reported 34,073 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, for instance, and set another record with 1,028 fatalities. The United Kingdom, in contrast, where about 66% of the population is fully vaccinated, is still seeing very high daily case numbers — over 40,000 for about a week — but the daily death toll from the virus has hovered for weeks around 150.
"There is a tradition to blame the government for everything," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a Tuesday conference call. "Of course, the government always feels and acknowledges its share of responsibility."
