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Coronavirus pandemic

St. Petersburg documents zero fatalities caused by shot against COVID-19, authorities say

Head of the city’s healthcare department Dmitry Lisovets emphasized that vaccination significantly decreases the risk of the unpleasant scenario of the COVID-19 course, virtually reducing it to zero

ST. PETERSBURG, July 30. /TASS/. No fatalities caused directly by a jab against the novel coronavirus infection have been recorded in St. Petersburg, head of the city’s healthcare department Dmitry Lisovets reported on Friday.

"In St. Petersburg, not a single case of a fatal outcome as a direct result of inoculation has been registered. Vaccination significantly decreases the risk of the unpleasant scenario of the COVID-19 course, virtually reducing it to zero," he wrote on his VKontakte page.

Earlier, he reported that the city had documented several fatalities among patients with serious concomitant diseases who were inoculated against the coronavirus.

According to the official, doctors admit that the shot does not provide 100% protection against the infection and an inoculated individual may also contract COVID-19. "In the conditions when the number of those inoculated with two components of the vaccine in our city has almost hit a million, unfortunately, it is not possible to exclude fatalities in the older age group. Especially, in people with serious pathologies, for example, with severe cardiovascular diseases. Yet the number of such cases is negligibly small compared to dozens, hundreds of thousands of recovered patients, including thanks to vaccination," he noted.

The first component of the vaccine in St. Petersburg was received by 1.3 mln people, while 941,000 residents have completed the vaccination cycle. According to the latest data, the city has detected 526,811 coronavirus infections placing it second among Russian regions following Moscow. Some 501,690 patients have recovered, and 19,171 have died. Over the past 24 hours, St. Petersburg has detected 1,916 new coronavirus infections.

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