Evening Coronavirus

Does plasma transfusion of recovered people help? Russia's national debt is growing, budget expenditures are declining. More than seven million airline workers could be out of work

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, 5,057 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Russia. A total of 907,758 people have fallen ill in the country since the beginning of the pandemic. The coronavirus was detected in the presidential envoy in the Far Eastern Federal District, Yuri Trutnev. Now he works remotely. During the day, 6,098 patients with Covid were discharged from hospitals. Over the entire period, 716,396 people have recovered. 124 people died during the day, for a total of 15,384 people. The director of the Vympel shipyard, Vadim Sobko, has died. The plant is part of the Kalashnikov group of companies.

In the Kaliningrad region , raids will be carried out more often against people without masks. Shopping centers and cafes will open in the Murmansk region from August 19. In the Bryansk region, theaters, cinemas and cafes will open from August 15, and kindergartens from August 24. Residents of Kuzbass were allowed to travel to other regions . But upon return you will have to quarantine for two weeks. The Mariinsky Theater has postponed ballet performances that were supposed to take place until the end of the week. At least two artists became infected.

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

During the pandemic , more than 750 thousand people have already died in the world. Lisbon will retain stricter restrictions than the rest of Portugal: gatherings of no more than 10 people are allowed, all businesses except restaurants must close at eight in the evening. The Final Eight of the Champions League is currently taking place in Lisbon. England has added the Netherlands and Malta to its “quarantine list”: tourists from these countries will have to isolate themselves for two weeks . 22% of infections in France occur at work . The authorities urged employers to transfer employees to remote work. In Germany, 1,445 new cases of Covid were identified per day - a record value since May 1.

Ukraine has an all-time record for infections: 1,952 people fell ill . There are 86,140 cases in the country. The leader in the increase in infections is India. There, more than 50 thousand cases have been detected there for 15 days in a row, today there are 66,999 of them, this is a record. In Greece, at least one person has become infected in a refugee camp. There are 3,800 people in the camp - with three times less capacity. In Spanish Galicia , smoking was banned on the streets and on restaurant terraces to prevent people from breaking their distance. More than a million Australians are out of work . The unemployment rate was 7.5%. This is the worst value since 1998.

World Data: Map and Table .

News that may affect you directly

Transfusion of blood plasma from those who have recovered from Covid is likely to speed up the recovery of new patients . This follows from the results of a study that was conducted in almost three thousand US clinics. It involved more than 35 thousand volunteers who became infected between April and July 2020. Half ended up in intensive care, a quarter on a ventilator. The therapy significantly reduced the mortality rate and accelerated the recovery of patients, and the higher the level of antibodies in donors, the brighter the effect. The results of the study were published in the electronic scientific library medRxiv - but the article has not yet been reviewed by independent experts or checked by editors of scientific journals. In April, we published an analysis of whether plasma treatment works. The research was much smaller back then.

Budget expenditures for 2021 will most likely be reduced by 10% . Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Budget and Financial Markets Sergei Ryabukhin says that “we are forced to do this.” According to Ryabukhin, cuts will be made to expenses “that are not, let’s say, life-changing.” The government is expected to present the budget in the first half of September.

Children in Moscow schools will not have to wear masks . At the same time, the movement of schoolchildren between classes will be limited . And there will be no public events (including assemblies) in the new academic year.

No traces of coronavirus were found in drinking water in Moscow . Rospotrebnadzor took 616 samples between March and August - and did not find coronavirus in any of them.

What else

For the first time in a year, Russia's national debt exceeded government reserves . As early as April 1, the government’s financial assets exceeded its debt by almost 2.5 trillion rubles: 17 trillion versus 14.5 trillion rubles. In May and June, the national debt and reserves were almost equal, and on July 1 , the federal national debt amounted to 14.77 trillion with reserves of 13.22 trillion. The national debt became positive for the first time since June 2019.

Mass infections occurred in two nursing homes . In the Kemerovo boarding home for the elderly and disabled , 40 people were hospitalized with Covid. Rospotrebnadzor began an epidemiological investigation. In the Bogdanovsky boarding house near Orel , 121 people fell ill . Initially, 90 people were reported infected.

In Europe, more than seven million aviation workers could lose their jobs . This is the forecast of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). A month ago, IATA predicted that six million people would lose their jobs. The organization estimates that passenger demand will only recover to 2019 levels in 2024.

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 Anna wrote to us:

I want to share our good quarantine story. During quarantine, many stables were in deep crisis due to the lack of visitors. Because of this, they were forced to sell horses for next to nothing in order to stay afloat. We have long dreamed of a horse and during quarantine we decided to buy one. The horse was placed in a small private stable next to our house. Now every morning the children run there to clean, feed and exercise. I just recently learned to gallop!

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