Third Wave Of COVID-19, Death Rate In Russia Approaches 100 Thousand People

JAKARTA - The third wave of the COVID-19 epidemic is hitting several countries in Europe. The increase in cases of infection and death toll has made several countries carry out a series of anticipations.

In Russia, local health officials said on Tuesday, March 30, the third wave of COVID-19 emerged in the country, with 4.5 cases of COVID-19 infection recorded since the start of the pandemic.

In fact, last week Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped Russia would achieve herd immunity and lift restrictions related to the pandemic by the end of the summer. Not only that, several regions have started to relax some restrictions.

"Unfortunately, the incidence rate and disease progression allow us to talk about the third wave of coronavirus infections", Deputy Health Minister Tatiana Semyonova was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.

Russia started a mass vaccination campaign in December. President Putin said last week, 4.3 million people in a country of about 145 million had so far received two shots of the COVID-19 vaccine.

To note, Russia on Tuesday reported 8,277 new cases of COVID-19 infection in the previous 24 hours, including 1,291 in Moscow. The country also reported 409 deaths, raising the official number to 98,442.