Evening Coronavirus

A drug against Covid has been patented in Russia. Three and a half million doctors in India went on strike. How the pandemic drove gold prices to record levels

Good evening,

This is Meduza's newsletter about the coronavirus during the pandemic. It is published on weekdays instead of Evening Medusa. If this letter was sent to you by someone you know and you have not yet subscribed to the mailing list, subscribe here . If you are reading this on the website, share the link on social networks.

Pulse

Over the past 24 hours, 5,241 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Russia. In total, 877,135 people have fallen ill in the country since the beginning of the pandemic. According to Rospotrebnadzor, in total more than 30 million tests were carried out in Russia. During the day, 7,235 patients with Covid were discharged from hospitals. Over the entire period, 683,592 people have recovered. During the day, 119 people died, for a total of 14,725 people.

Data for Russia in the form ofmaps and tables . We update them every day.

The number of cases in the world has exceeded 19 million people . In Japan, a new record for identified cases: 1,580 people fell ill . There are 44,167 infected people in the country. Norwegian authorities recommended that citizens not travel abroad , even to countries where there are few cases of Covid. Free mass testing for coronavirus has been launched in Hong Kong. All seven and a half million residents will be able to take the tests.

The number of infections in India has exceeded two million. More than three and a half million health workers went on a two-day strike . They demand higher wages and provide them with protective equipment. Trainee doctors are on strike in Seoul: they are against the government's plans to increase the number of medical students. The protesters believe that it is not necessary to train more doctors, but to pay more to those who are already working. A record 1,453 cases of Covid were detected in Ukraine per day . This is the third record in the last three days. There are a total of 78,515 cases in the country.

World Data: Map and Table .

News that may affect you directly

The government will allocate another nine billion rubles for bonuses to doctors . The money will be received by those who worked with Covid patients , as well as those who are suspected of having an infection. Previously, 7.45 billion rubles had already been allocated for payments to health workers.

In Sochi, control over compliance with the mask regime will be strengthened. Since the end of July , the incidence rate began to increase in the Krasnodar Territory: a record 125 new cases were identified the day before. The region is now in peak tourist season. According to Sochi Mayor Alexander Kopaygorodsky, in addition to half a million local residents, there are 210 thousand tourists in the city.

In St. Petersburg, the operation of attractions and sports and cultural events on the city streets was allowed . The permit comes into force on August 8 . Masks and social distancing are still required when visiting attractions and events.

A drug against coronavirus has been patented in Russia . The Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) received a patent for the drug Leitragin . The FMBA statement states that the medicine is a completely domestic development: “Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it does not repeat foreign experience in any way. This is the first and only delta-opioid receptor agonist in the world that has entered practical medicine.”

What else

We tell you how the pandemic and the record high price of gold are connected . An ounce of gold costs more than two thousand dollars - this has never happened in history. Now this asset looks more attractive than stocks and bonds. Due to the pandemic, the US Federal Reserve reduced the interest rate to almost zero (the Central Bank of Europe did this even earlier). As a result, the profitability of almost all financial assets fell, and the demand for gold increased. Then the price also increased. But it’s probably still not worth investing in gold now.

During the pandemic, 85 billion rubles were spent to support Moscow business . As Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, after the restrictions were lifted, most small and medium-sized businesses began to return to work . Last week, companies' turnover was 95% of mid-March levels.

PS There is not much good news in this newsletter, so tell us what good things are happening to you while quarantine is around. And we will tell your stories to make us all feel better.

Here's what reader Maya wrote to us:

I'm actually a little upset that all my vacation plans have been gradually cancelled. Now it became clear that it would be impossible to go anywhere south of the Leningrad region. But we walk with our son every day, and you know, summer in the city is no worse) First, we started getting acquainted with dog breeders on the nearest river (at five years old, it is vitally important for a person to pet a dog, this one and this one too!). It turned out that most of our neighbors are more wonderful than in the song))

The two of us also took several trips out of town by train and visited all the nearby parks. Just recently we made friends with our peers, mother and son, and we continue to go out together, and my grandmother and grandfather themselves were able to get out to us from Moscow. And no matter how many times this summer tried to turn bad, it still became the warmest and most family-friendly in the last few years. I hope my son remembers it this way too :)

We are very happy for Maya and her son. And it is vitally important to pet dogs even after five years!

We cover the coronavirus pandemic as fully as possible - and use only trusted sources of information. In our newsletter, unlike messages on WhatsApp, there will never be pseudoscientific nonsense. Forward this letter to your friends and ask them to subscribe if you think it is important for them to receive only reliable information.

Thank you for your trust, your “Medusa”