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| Five Covid-19 patients die in Russia hospital fire | Five Covid-19 patients die in Russia hospital fire |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A fire at a St Petersburg hospital has killed five coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit. | A fire at a St Petersburg hospital has killed five coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit. |
| The blaze was apparently started by a short-circuit in a ventilator, Russian news agencies reported. | The blaze was apparently started by a short-circuit in a ventilator, Russian news agencies reported. |
| The fire was quickly put out and 150 people were evacuated from the hospital, the country's emergency ministry said. It is not clear how many people have been injured. | |
| All the patients who died at St George Hospital had been on ventilators. | |
| "The ventilators are working to their limits. Preliminary indications are that it was overloaded and caught fire, and that was the cause," a source at St Petersburg emergencies department told the Interfax news agency. | "The ventilators are working to their limits. Preliminary indications are that it was overloaded and caught fire, and that was the cause," a source at St Petersburg emergencies department told the Interfax news agency. |
| Russia's NTV news website reports that the fire did not spread beyond one small Covid-19 ward on the sixth floor. | |
| It quotes doctors as saying a short-circuit caused a ventilator "literally to explode" because of the oxygen concentration, and the ward filled with smoke, which suffocated the patients. | |
| St Petersburg, with a population of approximately 4.9 million people, has 5,483 hospital beds for Covid-19 patients. | St Petersburg, with a population of approximately 4.9 million people, has 5,483 hospital beds for Covid-19 patients. |
| A police source quoted by Tass news agency said the ventilator which caught fire was new - it had been installed just this month - and was made by Russia's Ural machine-building plant. | |
| State investigators have opened a case to determine whether there was criminal negligence - either in the ventilator design and manufacture or in the hospital's fire precautions. | |
| The All-Russia Institute for Medical Technology Research points out that there are many different types of medical ventilator, so a fault in one may not be common to others. | |
| Alexei Kurinny, a member of the Russian parliament's health committee, said it was unlikely that a ventilator could have short-circuited or overloaded, and that fire safety was built into their design. | |
| St Petersburg has Russia's third-highest infection rate, with 7,700 infected patients and 56 recorded deaths. | |
| The St George Hospital in the Vyborg district had been converted to a Covid-19 hospital at the end of March. | The St George Hospital in the Vyborg district had been converted to a Covid-19 hospital at the end of March. |
| The emergency services sent 105 firefighters and 55 vehicles to the hospital, offficials said. | |
| The news of the fire comes as the country is starting to ease lockdown restrictions. Construction, farming and factory workers are resuming their duties. | The news of the fire comes as the country is starting to ease lockdown restrictions. Construction, farming and factory workers are resuming their duties. |
| Russia now has the third-highest number of confirmed infections worldwide. On Monday, it reported a record daily rise of 11,656 cases, bringing the official total to 221,344. | Russia now has the third-highest number of confirmed infections worldwide. On Monday, it reported a record daily rise of 11,656 cases, bringing the official total to 221,344. |
| That means Russia now has more confirmed cases than both Italy and the UK. | That means Russia now has more confirmed cases than both Italy and the UK. |