While the Coronavirus has finally knocked down the USA and Donald Trump – Russia was soaring above it all, as the number of cases there were extremely low as compared to many countries in the world like US, China, UK, France, and Italy.
Vladimir Putin was proud and complacent, and he believed that Russia would emerge unscathed from this global pandemic – but that is no longer true.
Coronavirus cases rising in Russia, real fast
Russia is now seeing a steep surge in the number of cases, and the situation seems to be spiralling out of control. In a recent press conference, the Russian President Putin didn’t seem to exude his previously shown confidence.
A month ago, he had reassured the Russians that they would be able to handle the Coronavirus pandemic and the situation was “totally under control.”
In fact, Russia was so confident to take on the pandemic that they were rescuing other countries and even helped America by sending an airplane full of medical supplies to New York.
During this week, the situation has taken a toll for the worse. Since Monday, Russia has seen a sudden spurt of 15% daily increase in the number of cases and the rate only keeps mounting with each passing day. At this rate, the number of cases will double every five days.
On the other hand, Russia has implemented a digital tracking system to check which citizens are indoors and which are going out. This surveillance program has also raised eyebrows.
Putin has finally succumbed
Putin had to finally admit the reality of the situation:
“We have a lot of problems. There is nothing to boast about, and we must not let our guard down, because in general, as you and your specialists say, we have not passed the peak of the epidemic yet.”
Even the politicians and journalists have turned against Putin, and he has been facing criticism from all around about how badly he misread and handled the situation.
A Russian political expert has been criticizing Putin consistently through her writings, calling him out for why he didn’t have a plan of action:
“One of the main topics today is why Putin is almost imperceptible in the coronavirus situation. He only addressed the nation briefly twice and went to the [coronavirus] hospital in Kommunarka, but he neither gave his own assessments of the crisis nor proposed a plan of action, but limited himself to scattered measures and general words. No drama, empathy or attempts to mobilize.”
Fascist leaders all over the world are using the same tactics
She also said that Putin wants to retain his popular image and that’s why he has left the harsh measures to local authorities, and he is trying to cajole people with fancy words – much like the Indian dictator PM Narendra Modi who is also relying on hollow words while forcing the media and medical authorities to lie about the real numbers.
Doctors estimate nearly 4 million cases in India, while only 11,555 cases have been reported. Coronavirus deaths in India are being reported as deaths due to pneumonia or heart failure or some other vital organ failure – while leaving out any reference to Coronavirus. This has kept the currently reported death toll at 396, while the records show nearly 100,000 deaths within the last month due to several organ failures which could have been only caused by a COVID-19 infection in such a short time.
China has reported that new Coronavirus cases are coming from Russia
Same is suspected from Russia, as China has constantly reported an influx of infections on the China-Russia border, and many cases were traced to a Russian flight that had arrived in Shanghai on April 10th. Kremlin has denied answering any questions in this regard.
Also, the abject failure of the capitalist government in the US is not unseen by anyone – while US is getting battered from a constant assault from the deadly virus, the focus of authorities is more on “opening up the economy” and “starting the bigger businesses” and not on actually ensuring the safety and health of the American citizens. Corporate greed flourishes even in the time of apocalypse, at the cost of everyone else’s livelihood.
Featured Image Courtesy: Quartz
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