Sputnik V Instrumental In Helping San Marino Be 1st European Nation To Defeat COVID - RDIF

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th May, 2021) San Marino has become the first European country to completely defeat the coronavirus pandemic thanks to Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Monday.

In early April, the European microstate witnessed a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, recording almost 250 cases a week. In a month, the authorities managed to reduce the infection rate to zero. No new cases have been confirmed since May 4.

"The Russian Direct Investment Fund ... announces positive results achieved by San Marino in the fight against coronavirus thanks to the Russian Sputnik V vaccine with infection rate having fallen to zero level. This has enabled the authorities to start lifting COVID restrictions, restore economic activity and return to normal life," the RDIF said in a press release.

The average infection rate in the country is now more than 40 times lower than that in any other European state, which allowed the authorities to close a hospital ward for treating COVID-19 patients, the RDIF said.

"RDIF is ready to provide additional batches of Sputnik V to San Marino to arrange vaccine tourism based on positive vaccination results in the country with a sharp decrease of the infection rate," the press release added.

According to the Russian sovereign wealth fund, 74% of the country's population aged over 16 have received the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 90% of those inoculations were conducted using Sputnik V.

Since San Marino is not an EU member state, it did not have to wait for the bloc's regulator to approve the Russian vaccine to use it.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, San Marino with a population of 33,000� has registered more than 5,000 cases of the coronavirus.