"The incidence has stabilized and began to decline slightly": 28 343 new cases of COVID-19 were detected in Russia

In Russia, 28,343 new cases of coronavirus infection were recorded per day.

The total number of detected cases of COVID-19 in Russia reached 10,074,797. The largest number of new cases of coronavirus over the past day were registered in St. Petersburg (1989), Moscow (1976) and the Moscow region (1945).

The number of deaths over the past 24 hours was 1,145. A total of 291,749 patients with COVID-19 died in the Russian Federation.

More than 75 million Russians have already been vaccinated with at least one component of vaccines against COVID-19, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said in an interview with Naila Asker-zade on the Russia 1 TV channel.

He stressed that "these are already quite good numbers."

“We see that the incidence has stabilized and started to decrease slightly, although the number of cases is still great - more than 800 thousand are sick at the same time today.

This is still a high figure, ”added the head of the Ministry of Health.

To date, six COVID-19 vaccines have been registered in the country.

Three were developed by the specialists of NITsEM named after Gamaleya - "Sputnik V", one-component "Sputnik Light" and "Sputnik M" for teenagers.

Two drugs were created by the Vector Center - EpiVacCorona and EpiVacCorona-N, another one - KoviVak - by the Chumakov Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Also, the Ministry of Health reported that 14 drugs for the treatment of coronavirus have been registered in Russia.

Speaking about the situation with the spread of the omicron coronavirus strain, Mikhail Murashko noted that those infected with the new mutation are ill either with minor symptoms or asymptomatic: “Today, we do not see any threat to life or aggravation of the condition.”

According to him, the study of the effectiveness of Russian vaccines against "omicron" can take up to three weeks.

“The work is underway, the work plan has been drawn up, and, of course, it is very important to carry out a sufficiently large number of studies, and with the plasma of already vaccinated people, in order to see different titers, to see the features of the behavior of the virus, how it will behave,” Murashko explained.

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As Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on December 13, 16 out of 177 citizens who arrived in Russia from South Africa were diagnosed with the omicron strain.

She also said that the government has developed an additional response plan for the new mutation SARS-CoV-2.

The document has been sent to President Vladimir Putin.

According to her, the emergence and spread of "omicron" can aggravate the epidemiological situation in Russia.

“I do not exclude that after the holidays we can get an increase in the incidence, but how it will be expressed: whether it will be asymptomatic, mild or severe forms of the disease - it’s difficult to say now,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

In addition, the World Health Organization expects an increase in the number of deaths and hospitalizations due to the spread of the omicron strain, RIA Novosti reports.

Certificates for unofficially recovered patients

Russians who have had coronavirus, but did not seek medical help, will be able to receive a document on the past illness if they detect antibodies.

We are talking about those citizens who were sick after January 1, 2021.

“We will not measure antibodies in terms of their quantity, we will only get a“ yes ”or“ no ”result,” Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova explained the essence of the upcoming changes.

According to her, the data obtained will be correlated with the base of positive tests.

If the PCR test and the data on the presence of antibodies match, the citizen will be issued the necessary document.

It will be valid for one year.

Citizens who did not take PCR tests, but believe that they were sick, will have the opportunity to take antibody tests.

In case of a positive result, they will receive a vaccination certificate, which will be valid for six months.

As First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Health Protection Committee Fedot Tumusov told RT, the decision to issue a certificate unofficially to COVID-19 patients is "absolutely correct and urgent."

Along with this, citizens who are vaccinated with foreign vaccines will also be able to take an antibody test and receive a certificate valid for six months.

A similar opportunity is provided for Russian citizens who have been vaccinated with Sputnik V abroad.

As Golikova added, in December, the portal of state services will be technically ready to issue certificates based on the results of the antibody test.

Commenting on the possibility of providing certificates for those vaccinated with foreign vaccines, Dmitry Peskov emphasized that this is precisely the recognition of the presence of antibodies.

“This does not mean at all that ... similar decisions will be made in Western countries.

Work on the mutual recognition of vaccination acts continues, and we hope that over time there will be a positive result, ”Peskov said.