‘The director is given a day to decide whom to suspend from work’
Vice head of the Tatarstan office of Russia’s consumer rights protection watchdog Lyubov Avdonina explained who will be checked after vaccination first
206 new COVID-19 cases a day have registered in Tatarstan in early November. So we can’t talk about a tendency for a decline, said vice head of the Tatarstan office of Russia’s consumer rights protection watchdog Lyubov Avdonina at a traditional Friday press conference on 5 November. To accelerate the vaccination rate, the second 24/7 mobile site opened at Urban Hospital No. 7, while those who are waiting for the Sputnik Light will soon get this vaccine. On 10 November, directors of enterprises will be able to suspend those workers who have not been vaccinated and cannot work remotely from work.
More than a thousand Tatarstan citizens have died since the beginning of the pandemic
206 cases of the novel coronavirus infection were registered as of 5 November, which is 18 cases more than on 4 November.
“At the moment, we report that the growth continues, the rise is 9,5% compared to yesterday,” said vice chief sanitary doctor of Tatarstan Lyubov Avdonina. According to her, nowadays 31,814 cases have been registered in the republic. The surge is complicated by the seasonal incidence of acute viral respiratory infections.”
“Unfortunately, we started the seasons with a high COVID-19 incidence. We began to register growth on 13 September. If during the first weeks the rise was 2%, then it was 6%, on the 40th week the growth reached 38%,” Avdonina reports.
In turn, epidemiologist, chief visiting specialist in preventive vaccination in the Tatarstan Ministry of Health Care Dmitry Lopushov said that 25,820 in nearly 32,000 patients have cured during the pandemic. More than a thousand people have died.
“The work of hospitals goes on fully. The workload on doctors and health workers due to the higher incidence stays,” he said. Nowadays, 9,700 people who contacted patients or were suspected of having the disease are monitored by doctors.
The main share of the patients is the elderly above 60 years, Lyubov Avdonina said. According to her, 40% of them have been vaccinated, this is why we cannot say their incidence will be falling. They are recommended to self-isolate, while their relatives shouldn’t visit them.
“We are again asking them to stay isolated. We don’t recommend visiting older relatives on the holidays because infections in the family are four times faster than at work,” the representative of the watchdog warns.
“Clean” planes
The watchdog continues the sanitary control at airports. 42 planes were checked out as of 5 November, 14 of them returned from foreign countries. About 6,000 people have been examined, but people with the disease haven’t been found, Avdonina said.
To find patients with symptoms of acute viral respiratory infections extended testing for COVID-19 is done. According to Avdonina, more than 11,000 tests are done daily, which facilitated fast detection.
“In the last seven days, the testing coverage has increased, 291 people per 100,000 people, while the average is 200 per 100,000,” Avdonina specified.
Sputnik Light to arrive according to Russian Health Care Ministry’s schedule
Chief visiting epidemiologist of the Tatarstan Ministry of Health Care Dmitry Lopushov said that the vaccination rate in the republic is rising. He adds that 1,652 million people have already been inoculated, 30,790 people have been revaccinated. Warehouses have enough vaccines, over 824,000 doses.
In answer to journalists’ question about the deficit of the Sputnik Light vaccine, he said its supplies to the republic kept up with the schedule fixed by the Russian Ministry of Health Care. First of all, those who made an appointment will be administered the vaccine, anybody can join the waiting list. 170 vaccination sites keep operating across the republic. A second point opened in addition to the first one working 24/7 in Mega shopping mall. It opened at Urban Hospital No. 7.
“They are popular. Health workers are working all night long, and this pleases that the vaccination is available around the clock,” Lopushov says. An influx of those who should receive the second dose of the Sputnik V is expected from 11 November. The epidemiologist explained that the second dose arrives for every specific person who had the first dose.”
At the same time, the flu incidence is being monitored. It started in September. At the moment, three cases have been registered in the republic. Lyubov Avdonina reminded the audience that to protect oneself from the flu it is desirable to be vaccinated with a vaccine permitted to be received simultaneously with the vaccine against COVID-19.
Who will be suspended from work?
From 10 November, the Tatarstan office of the watchdog will start inspecting enterprises for vaccination rates. A director of a company is given a day to decide who is suspended from work because of the absence of a vaccine. Who will be inspected first of all? Avdonina says that according to the federal registry of vaccinated people, “a snapshot in a contingent will be taken.”
“If we see that the services sphere is suffering, we will go there. If the industry is suffering, we will go to industrial enterprises. Some have already received warnings. And if the deadline gets closer, it is clear we will look at the vaccination there.”
At the same time, Avdonina reminded citizens that those who have managed to receive only the first dose of the Sputnik V are recognised officially vaccinated.