Current Time reporters asked doctors and medics who have been battling COVID-19 in different countries to share their advice and wishes for others in the new year. They hoped for an end to the pandemic -- and for patience and strength to face new challenges.
Russians have been telling Current Time about their experiences with the new Sputnik-V COVID-19 vaccine after the country began a mass vaccination program. President Vladimir Putin said on December 2 that 2 million doses of the Russian-made vaccine would be made available within days.
It may have seemed like the news in 2020 was all about the COVID-19 pandemic, but, in fact, there was plenty of variety. From protests and war to environmental challenges and social change, Current Time was there. How much do you know about this year’s major events?
Some Russian medical professionals have alleged that various means are being applied to force them to take a Russian-made vaccine against COVID-19 that has not completed mass clinical trials. Russia began a mass rollout of its Sputnik-V vaccine this week.
Kyrgyz surgeon Mambet Mamakeev is listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest-known working surgeon. After 67 years in the operating theater, the 93-year-old is still putting patients under the knife.
Valery Melnikov was known in Russia for the huge New Year's cards he created on the ice and snow of a frozen river in the country's Far East. After he died in October at the age of 72 after contracting COVID-19, residents of his home region of Amur decided to continue the tradition he started.
The situation in many Ukrainian hospitals is critical, doctors say, after a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the country. There's a shortage of beds, intensive-care units are overcrowded, and many seriously ill patients have to wait for ventilators.
The video is shocking: a 90-year-old grandmother with COVID-19 is turned away from a Russian hospital because there are no beds left. As the scale of Russia's health crisis becomes apparent, authorities in one region reacted by banning mobile phones.
COVID-19 cases are growing fast in Russia and the situation is becoming dire in some regions. The country reported a record 18,283 new cases on October 30. There are shortages of medical supplies and personnel in a number of cities. And some morgues are full of bodies, with not enough pathologists to handle the dead.
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