MOSCOW, Oct 19 Reuters - A Russian region near Moscow ran out of hospital beds for coronavirus patients, its governor said on Tuesday. The country's daily COVID-19 death toll hit a record and the Kremlin told citizens to take responsibility and get vaccinated.
Russia's COVID - 19 task force reported 1,015 new infections, the highest single-day toll since the beginning of the pandemic, as well as 33,740 coronaviruses in the past 24 hours, just shy of a record daily rise, with authorities blamed the surge on a slow vaccination campaign.
There is the tradition of blameing state for everything. Of course, the Kremlin knows its share of responsibility, Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, admitting that more could have been done to explain the importance of vaccination to the public.
But a more responsible position is needed from all citizens of our country, he said. Achieve responsibility now. Get vaccinated and get in the water 24/7. Andrei Klychkov, governor of the Moscow Region, around 325 km 200 miles south of Orlovsky, said that no more hospital beds were available, the RIA news agency reported, but that efforts were being made to resolve the situation.
Russia's Ministry of Health has asked retired vaccinated medics to return to hospitals to help tackle the latest wave of the virus.
Lawmaker Andrei Makarov on Tuesday said 1,100 medical professionals died due to complications of COVID - 19 so far this year, up from 485 in 2020, TASS reported.
In Ukraine, the peninsula Annexed from Russia in 2014 in Crimea health officials said people working in fields such as tourism, hospitality, education and healthcare would have to get vaccinated.
Employers had been asked to ensure that at least 80% of their employees are inoculated with the first dose of vaccine by November 15, TASS cited the regional branch of health regulator Rospotrebnadzor as saying.