Death trap: How occupied Crimea is experiencing COVID with lack of hospital beds and unrestricted Russian tourism

This material was prepared as part of the «How We Will Get Crimea Back» project — an initiative of Ukrainian journalists from Crimea. It’s goal is to find instruments and solutions for the de-occupation and reintegration of the peninsula.

Since the pandemic kicked in, a total of 1,600 people died of COVID-19 complications in Crimea, according to local Russian authorities. The occupation government in Crimea has changed the health minister, while the Russian authorities temporarily increased the number of hospital beds there by establishing additional pop-up hospitals.

By any means necessary

Lack of doctors became a problem during the pandemic in Crimea. Moreover, local physicians have complained about not receiving the promised surcharges for high-risk work. Officially, last year in Crimea, there was a shortage of about 1,000 medics. The Russian Ministry of Health even resorted to posting ads on its website trying to recruit doctors. In the end, almost 100 medics were sent from throughout Russia.

Despite singing the praises of the Crimean medicine, sick local officials opted for treatment elsewhere. Several were admitted to Moscow and St. Petersburg hospitals, with at least one — ex-head of the Yalta administration Ivan Imgrunt — dying from disease complications.

This year, there is an even greater shortage of doctors in Crimea. According to the self-proclaimed health minister Alexander Ostapenko, to fight COVID-19 effectively, another 2,500 doctors and 4,000 paramedics are required.

Who brings COVID to Crimea

Local authorities opened the holiday season in late spring, lifting anti-epidemic restrictions on Russian tourists. Last summer, Simferopol Airport alone received over 100 flights a day from Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, where, at the time, COVID incidence was on the rise. Mass events went ahead on the peninsula, with participants often disregarding epidemic recommendations.

In July, 300−400 new COVID patients were recorded every day, up to twice as many as in the summer of 2020. For several weeks in a row, local Russian authorities have noted «negative trends» in the incidence but are happy to welcome Russian tourists regardless.

Olga Skrypnyk — a coordinator of the organization monitoring the situation with the pandemic on the peninsula, Crimean Human Rights Group — believes that the indicators of the Crimean authorities on morbidity in the region are «significantly underestimated». The issue is hushed up, and hospitals are given verbal orders to confine patients to home treatment so as not to spoil the stats, she said.

Mandatory vaccination

Earlier this year, officials on the peninsula called on Crimeans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus with Russian drugs. But the campaign is stalling due to disruptions in vaccine supplies and a reluctance to get jabbed. Residents of the peninsula only have access to the Russian-made Sputnik V, Sputnik Light, EpiVacCorona, and CoviVac — none have been approved by the World Health Organization.

At the beginning of the holiday season in Crimea, the mandatory vaccination of service, catering, and transport workers was announced. This process is accompanied by administrative pressure on employees, said Yevgeniy Kostenko who is the chief legal labour inspector of the Russian-controlled Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Crimea. He says that people are deprived of bonuses, fired, or threatened with dismissal for refusing the shot.

Crimean citizens wishing to be vaccinated against the coronavirus with WHO-approved vaccines are actively invited by the Ukrainian authorities to the vaccination centers, in particular in the bordering Kherson region. The Russian occupation government of Crimea even said that it is ready to recognise Crimean people who are fully-jabbed in mainland Ukraine.

This is a truncated English adaptation of the article. The full original text can be viewed in Ukrainian and Russian.