COVID-19 in Russia: Should we expect a novel response to the novel coronavirus?

Abstract

Russia provides an important case study in its COVID-19 response by a country that has one of the largest epidemics, increasingly authoritarian government policies, and important domestic and international political influence. In this article, we describe and explain Russia's public health and social policy responses to COVID-19 - earlier in the pandemic when the concern was the border with China, to later when there were confirmed cases in all regions in the country. In the past, Russia has served as an interesting case for exploring global health politics and infectious diseases. Thus, we position our analysis of the COVID-19 response through a reflection on infectious disease control in the Soviet Union and contemporary Russia. We explore the following: government control, contention with official statistics, (dis-)information, (mis-)trust, and vulnerabilities of medical care workers. We also discuss how Russia is reinforcing its role in global health during the pandemic, for example through vaccine development and foreign humanitarian aid. We situate our analysis in the historical, political, and social contexts to help explain Russia's response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Russia; coronavirus; global health; government response; infectious disease control.