COVID-19 & Russia: what went wrong?
With the world currently facing a dangerous viral pandemic from the Wuhan region in China, there are a few notable and commendable examples on how to properly handle such a global medical crisis, however there are always quite a lot a surprising exceptions. One such case would be the current situation that the Russian Federation have got itself into.
As of the time of writing, Russia currently has slightly more than three hundred thousand positively identified COVID-19 cases with over two thousand deaths attributed to this deadly strain of novel coronavirus. This has led to the Russian heartland becoming one of the hardest hit regions globally (the country with the second highest number of identified cases) due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the Russian authorities have recently implemented strict lockdown measures and an extremely restrictive travel ban, it can be stated with a high level of confidence that these precautions are too little too late. The original sin of the Russian government was their leadership purposefully ignoring the initial COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China. It should be noted that this novel coronavirus is believed to have rapidly spread across Western Russia (the “European” part of Russia) due to a religious gathering at the historic Church of the Saviour on Blood in St. Petersburg, Russia. Also, by the time the necessary Russian medical agencies had deployed the required resources, the COVID-19 infection had spread to an uncontrollable extent. Additionally it has been reported by multiple independent sources that the Russian leadership had initially hid (allegedly) its COVID-19 numbers from its own citizens and the international community. This alleged misinformation campaign directed by Russian authorities could have considerably contributed to the Russian civilian population ignoring initial warnings from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other similar medical agencies.
Although, there are several other factors which could contribute to Russia’s disproportionately large COVID-19 numbers, it can be concluded with a high level of confidence that this medical crisis is due to the delayed response and overall attitude of the Russian government.
