Moscow is making thousands of extra hospital beds available for corona patients for the second time in a short time.
These are necessary because of the many new infections that are currently being diagnosed in the Russian capital, with the result that hospitals are overrun with Covid-19 patients.
On Thursday, mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced that in five days 13,000 available hospital beds had been “swallowed” by corona patients and that it has been expanded to 17,000. In the next two weeks, that number should increase further to 24,000, according to one of his employees.
Moscow registered 9,120 new infections with the coronavirus on Saturday, the second daily record in a row. Two weeks ago, 3000 cases a day were diagnosed. The extra contagious Delta variant is now found in nearly 90 percent of the positive Muscovites tested, according to Sobjanin.
New measures, for example, the closure of the catering industry, are being used to prevent the further spread of the virus. Sobyanin is also taking drastic steps to boost the low vaccination coverage.
Many residents do not want to be vaccinated, but some are still obliged to do so. By August 15, 60 percent of the workforce in certain sectors must be fully vaccinated.