Putin intervenes as Russia’s Dagestan faces virus ‘catastrophe’

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin was forced to intervene personally in the epidemic sweeping Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan, as local officials described the coronavirus situation as a ‘catastrophe.’

For several days now, there have rumours of mounting fatalities and overwhelmed hospitals in the mountainous majority-Muslim region and local medical staff have taken to social media to make frantic appeals.

Dagestan’s top cleric, Mufti Akhmad Abdulayev, described the situation as dire and pleaded to the Kremlin for help.

“The scope of the catastrophe is forcing us to appeal to you,” he told Putin via video link Monday.

“Please, bring your attention to Dagestan.” The region’s health minister, Dzhamaludin Gadzhiibragimov, said that 657 people had died of pneumonia in the region, including 40 medics.

According to a regional breakdown of Russia’s official coronavirus tally, only 29 Covid19 deaths have been recorded in the region of 2.9 million people by Monday.

Doctors told AFP they have been overwhelmed by the number of patients.

Putin promised to send aid to Dagestan, and asked residents not to gather for the Eid celebration marking the end of Ramadan this weekend.

“The situation in the Republic of Dagestan is complicated and of course calls for additional – and urgent – measures,” Putin said during the video conference.