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Russia Reports Seasonal ARI Surge as Officials Reject Nationwide School Lockdown

Health advisers expect a short‑term peak followed by a late‑September decline, urging use of a new four‑component vaccine.

Overview

  • Rospotrebnadzor recorded a week‑on‑week rise of about 63% with more than 696,000 acute respiratory infection cases nationwide, including a twofold increase among schoolchildren.
  • State Duma health committee chair Sergey Leonov called the situation a typical autumn pattern and said additional measures in schools are not required at this time.
  • Authorities left room for targeted responses, allowing class‑ or school‑level quarantines based on case counts and broader city restrictions if local incidence becomes serious.
  • Leonov urged seasonal flu shots at least for older adults, while academician Gennady Onishchenko called for vaccinating seven million people with a new quadrivalent formulation.
  • Onishchenko said no epidemic or pandemic is expected given the absence of new pandemic‑capable strains, attributing the rise to post‑September 1 classroom mixing and projecting a decline by the end of the month.