Coronavirus: Russian hospital says it began civilian coronavirus vaccinations

Moscow (Reuters) – Russia has delivered the first known batch of Sputnik V vaccines for civilian use to a hospital just south of Moscow, which said on Monday it began vaccinating the local population last week.

Russia, which is rushing to keep up with Western drug makers in the race for a coronavirus shot, has said interim trial results show its Sputnik V vaccine to be 92 percent effective at protecting people from COVID-19.

Domodedovo’s Central City Hospital said on its website that residents wanting for inoculation had to register on a government website in advance and bring along a negative COVID-19 test result and ID documents on the day.

Coronavirus cases have surged in Russia since September, but authorities have resisted imposing a tough lockdown and have said that targeted measures are enough to cope with the crisis.

Authorities confirmed 26,338 new coronavirus cases on Monday, including 6,511 in Moscow and 3,691 in St Petersburg, taking the national total to 2,295,654 since the pandemic began.

They also reported 368 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 39,895.