The highly-transmissible Delta variant has been detected in 89.3 per cent of the Covid-19 patients in Moscow as the Russian capital is witnessing a surge in new infections, the city's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
To resist the Delta variant, people need to develop as twice antibodies as required before, which has caused the herd immunity level in Moscow to drop from 60 per cent to just 25 per cent, Xinhua news agency quoted Sobyanin as saying on Friday.
Moscow, the country's worst-hit region by the pandemic, reported a record of 9,056 new cases over the past 24 hours, taking the city's total to 1,269,145, the country's monitoring and response centre said on Friday.
Starting from Friday, Moscow hospitals have started providing medical care only to those vaccinated against the virus, excluding emergency treatment.
Russia confirmed 17,262 new Covid-19 cases, the highest level since February 1, taking the nationwide tally to 5,281,309.
The death currently stood at 126,300.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday attributed the new wave of infections in Russia to a low vaccination rate, the public's reluctance to observe restrictions, and the severity of the Covid-19 variant.
Peskov said President Vladimir Putin is monitoring the pandemic situation and remains in close contact with regional leaders of the country.
--IANS
ksk/
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU