When Alina Kosova’s uncle fell ill in their Siberian village last month, the ambulance sent from the nearby city of Omsk left without him, prompting his family to drive him to the hospital themselves. When they arrived, the queue for patients was so long that he was only admitted 10 hours later, after colleagues pulled strings to find him a place.
Sergei Kosov vowed to relatives that he would expose the poor treatment and chaotic conditions at the hospital once discharged — but died before he got the chance. The spiralling coronavirus infection rate across Russia’s nine time zones has aroused anger among many previously apathetic Russians like Ms Kosova, an 18-year-old blogger, at what they say is authorities’ inability to cope with the pandemic.
Russia has recorded more Covid-19 cases than all but three countries, setting a new daily record of 29,093 on Sunday. The second wave has been particularly hard on Russia’s regions, which account for 70 per cent of active coronavirus cases and mostly lack the modern health infrastructure of Moscow.
The Kremlin hopes it can stem the tide after president Vladimir Putin ordered vaccination with Russia’s own Sputnik V to begin before the conclusion of phase 3 trials. Moscow began vaccinating teachers and doctors on Monday, while the rest of Russia will join the campaign at the end of next week.
Deputy prime minister Tatiana Golikova, the official heading Russia’s pandemic response, claimed last week that the country had enough beds for its 216,000 hospitalised patients, with only four of Russia’s 85 regions over 90 per cent capacity. But medical workers and ordinary Russians across the country have publicly complained of long queues to enter hospitals, waiting for days for an ambulance, and shortages of vital medicines.
After her uncle died, Ms Kosova wrote a rap aimed at Omsk’s governor Alexander Burkov and criticising him for seeking Covid-19 treatment in the relative comfort of Moscow while “people are dying at home before they can make it to the ward”.