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Nearly 500 doctors die from coronavirus in Russia

18 June 2020 12:40 (UTC +04:00)

Some 500 medical staff have died from COVID-19 in Russia, Head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Healthcare Alla Samoilova said on Thursday, APA reports citing TASS.

"Today we consider that the epidemic has not yet ended. More than half a million people in Russia are really ill, and unfortunately more than 7,500 people have died to date <...> 489 [people] are medical staff. So, unfortunately, we have lost nearly 500 people, who are our colleagues," the healthcare watchdog’s chief told an online conference.

According to Samoilova, from the very beginning Russia was not fully ready to face the epidemic and lacked individual protection gear. "Mobilization was serious. <...> Frankly speaking, at the start there were some complaints and some mishaps, but today everything is according to a plan. Today we don’t receive any complaints <...> that medical staff are not provided with individual protection gear or are not tested," she noted.

Note that to date, 561,091 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 313,963 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 7,660 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.