Caracas COVID ward scenes; Sputnik V jabs arrive

Venezuela received 50,000 new doses of the Russian Sputnik-V COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, at a time the country grapples with an increase of virus cases that has brought a record number of COVID-19 patients into hospitals. The government has partially attributed the rise to a virus variant which scientists believe originated in neighboring Brazil and is more infectious.

But before even the variant known as P1 was found in Venezuela, cases were on the rise while Caracas held a soft lockdown. The already rundown hospitals in the capital are treating the highest numbers of patients since 2020, and hundreds are being left without medical attention. Venezuelan Health Minister Carlos Alvarado, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and Russian ambassador Sergey Mélik-Bagdasárov, were at the airport to receive the vaccine doses on Monday.

Alvarado said Venezuela will use the new batch to start the immunization of people over the age of 60 after vaccinating more than 98,000 health workers. The country has set a goal of reaching 70% of the population during 2021. Veneuzela has reported 1,565 virus deaths and over 156,000 cases since early 2020, but organizations have warned about significant underreporting due to poor diagnostic capacity.

Image: AP