Volunteers bring Christmas cheer to Russian medical staff

Russian volunteers brought Christmas cheer to medical workers and COVID-19 patients at a hospital in Nizhny Novgorod, by handing out cards and presents amid festive decorations. One volunteer even dressed up as Father Frost, the local version of Santa Claus.

"Children made gift cards with their own hands, they also made decorations for the Christmas tree, this gave birth to the idea to do something nice to doctors," said volunteer Rustam Ayzatullin.

"Our COVID-19 patients suffered psychological trauma, and any attention, any emphasis on Christmas cheer helps in the treatment of these patients," said Alexander Gubanov, the head of the COVID-19 hospital at Nizhny Novgorod state clinic number 33.

Russian authorities reported 29,935 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest daily spike in the pandemic. Russia's total of over 2.9 million remains the fourth largest coronavirus caseload in the world. The government's coronavirus task force has also registered more than 53,000 deaths in all. Russia has been swept by a rapid resurgence of the outbreak this fall, with numbers of confirmed COVID-19 infections and deaths significantly exceeding those reported in the spring.

The country's authorities have resisted imposing a second nationwide lockdown or a widespread closure of businesses. Earlier this month, mass vaccination against COVID-19 started in Russia with Sputnik V - a domestically developed coronavirus vaccine that is still undergoing advanced studies among tens of thousands of people needed to ensure its safety and effectiveness. Russia has been widely criticized for giving Sputnik V regulatory approval in August after it had only been tested on a few dozen people.