"Novaya Gazeta": in Chechnya, law enforcers struggle with coronavirus instead of doctors

Residents of Chechnya are so scared by authorities and law enforcers that they are afraid to inform doctors about COVID-19 symptoms, the "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper writes. The information from the letter from Kadyrov's press secretary to the editor-in-chief of the "Novaya Gazeta" should lead to a check for coronavirus in the Chechen hospital, the journalist, Elena Milashina, has emphasized.

Earlier, Kadyrov accused, in his response to the publication by Milashina about the situation with the epidemic in Chechnya, the newspaper of "anti-Chechen bullying" and voiced out threats to the author and her colleagues. Russian authorities should investigate these threats, the human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) has stated.

The funeral of Akhmad Garaev, a resident of the Novye Atagi village, which was discussed in the article, was organized with notification of the authorities, the Milashina's article said. Meanwhile, Magomed Daudov, the head of the Coronavirus Counter-Virus Operative Headquarters, has assured that "all the measures for the non-proliferation of the virus" had been taken at the funeral.

According to the sources of the "Novaya Gazeta", Garaev died at home; and his relatives, who were then diagnosed with coronavirus, concealed the dangerous symptoms.

There is another problem. Sometimes residents of Chechnya turn to doctors at their residences without even suspecting that they are infected with coronavirus; and then doctors are sent to quarantine; hospitals are closed; and medical care is inaccessible to other residents, the "Novaya Gazeta" has noted.